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PROGRESS IN THE. NORTH-WEST. 



ANNUAL DISCOURSE 



BEFORE THE 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OHIO, 



BY THE PRESIDENT, 

WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER. 



DELIVERED 



APRIL 8, 1850, ON THE OCCASION OF THE COMMEMORATION OF THE SIXTY-SECOND 
ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE STATE. 



CINCINNATI: 
H. W. DERBY & CO., PUBLISHERS 
18 5 0. 



«• 



VALUABLE LAW BOOKS, 

RECENTLY PUBLISHED 

BY H. W, DERBY & CO. 



HOLCOMB'S INTRODUCTION TO EQUITY JURISPRU- 
DENCE, on the basis of Story's Commentaries, with notes and reference to English and 
American Cases, adapted to the use of Students. By James P. Holcombe. 1 neat 8vo. vol. 

This work contains,,; in a condensed form, the most important part of Story's Com- 
mentaries, with an abstract at the beginning of each chapter, of the subjects comprehcndnd 
under it. 

It has been sought to increase its value as a fii-st book for students, by the addition of 
numerous notes of an elementary nature, containing reference to the leading American 
authorities, and such important decisions in England as have been made s^^nce the last edition 
of the Commentaries, 

New York, July 17, 1846. 

I have penised with pleasure, Mr. Holcomb's Introduction to Equity Jurisprudence. It 
is a clear and able manual or outline of the Elementary principles of Equity, as adminis- 
tered in the English and American Courts. I think it may be eminently useful in facili- 
tating and recommending the study and knowlcdga of the Equity administration of Justice. 
Yours, respectfully, JAMES KENT. 

To Messrs. Derby, Bradley & Co. 

Lexington, December 22, 1846. 

Dear Sir — Engagements almost incessant, have, until very recently, prevented me from 
a careful and thorough examination of your " Introduction to Equity," a copy of which you 
had kindly presented to me. It is more simple and didactic than Mitford or Jeremy ; and it 
is so much more condensed and readable than Story (which is too diffuse), as to entitle it, in 
my judgment, to the patronage of Teachera and Students of Rudimental Equity ; and I am 
disposed, as a Teacher of Jurisprudence, to substitute it for Mitford, which, though once 
pre-eminent, and even yet excellent in some re.spects, as an instructive book on Equity, is 
neither so methodical nor comprehensive as your "Introduction," which exhibits, with 
general accuracy, an intelligible outline of the p inciplcs of modern Equity, and to the 
young Student, unacquainted with the anatomy of this great subject, cannot fail to be 
useful. Very respectfully. G. ROBERTSON. 

To James P. Holcombe, Esq. 

" An excellent book, peculiirly adapted to the use of the Student ; indeed, for him it is a 
capital book ; and, in the language of Chancellor Kent, ' it may be eminently useful in 
facilitating and recommending the study and knowledge of the Equity administration of 
Justice.' " — Western Law Journal, February, 1847. 



♦- 



FACTS ASD CONDITIONS 



OF 



PROGRESS IN THE NORTH-WEST. 



BEING THE 

ANNUAL DISCOURSE FOR 1850, 

BEFORE 

THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF OHIO; DELIVERED 

APRIL 8, THE SIXTY-THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST 

SETTLEMENT OF THE STATE. 



BY WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER. 



WITH AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY, AND 
OTHER MATTER. 



f: 
CINCINNATI : 

PUBLISHED BY H. W. DERBY & CO. 
1850. 




/^^f 



J 






e 



Entered according to act of Congress, in tlie year of our Lord, 1850, 

BY H. W. DERBY & Co., 
in tlie Clerli's Office of the District Court for tlie District of Oliio. 



PUBLICATION ORDERED BY THE SOCIETY. 



CINCINNATI : 
H. W. Derby S( Co., Pri liters. 



DISCOURSE. 

By the constitution of the Historical and Philosophi- 
cal Society of Ohio, it is made the duty of the President 
of this association, at the anniversary each year, to de- 
liver a pubHc discourse on some subject lying within the 
appropriate fields of its investigation. Occupying, at the 
present time, the position referred to, I appear before 
you. Gentlemen of the Society, for the purpose of dis- 
charging the duty thus imposed. And the theme to 
which I have thought proper to invite your attention, is — 
The Facts and Conditions of Progress in the North- 
Western SECTION OF THE UNITED StATES. 

That part of American Literature, which is made up 
of the different descriptions of the Public Discourse, de- 
livered on occasions of anniversary and other periodical 
celebrations, though characterized by a brilliant diction 
and a philosophic spirit, and informed with the learning 
of by-gone ages, has been too often deficient in the great 
events bearing upon our own immediate times, and, con- 
sequently, lacking in that prophetic spirit, whose broad 
and intelligent survey extends at once over the past and 
the future, and founds upon the present an encouraging 
hope for man. 

The great majority of these discourses, which do not 
perish in the day that gives them bu-th, are evidently the 
work of abilities far beyond my own, and filled Avith a 
wisdom to which I make no pretensions. It would ill be- 



come me, especially on an occasion like this, to usurp the 
seat of literary justice, and pronounce judgment upon 
them, even if satisfied, as I am not, that their defects 
were many. All I mean to say is, that it seems to me 
they too often, though filled with the wisdom of Egypt, 
the art of Greece, and the grandeur of Rome, though 
charged with the learning of the European Continent and 
instinct with the spirit of liberty that has moved with a 
mighty pre'sence from the Isle of Britain, yet fail to pro- 
duce and array, as they might, the facts that have borne 
upon our own past, and shape our immediate present, and 
will enter into our near and far future. Many of them 
have also been deficient, I think, in making that clear 
and distinctive presentation of the conditions of our pro- 
gress as a people, which would be useful to us, both as 
warning voices and as guiding hands. 

In attempting to do for our own section of the Union, 
what so many have foiled to do for other sections and for 
the whole, I may be undertaking that which is beyond 
the capabilities of a single discourse, and fail also. But 
feeling, in the broad and beautiful region of country to 
which I belong, an interest surpassed by that of no other 
man ; having watched its progress for a quarter of a cen- 
tury, with a closeness that has permitted little to pass un- 
observed ; and possessing some views as to its future ad- 
vancement, which are the result of my best reflections, I 
feel impelled, be the hazard what it may, to make the 
attempt. 

My subject divides itself naturally into two parts : the 
first, treating of the focts of our past progress ; the sec- 
ond, of the conditions of our future advancement. 



I. The Facts of Past Progress in the North-Western 
States. 

The facts of our past progress, I do not propose to 
show in anything like detail. This would be an encyclo- 
pedic task — even were it desu'able — for which I should 
not have time, nor you patience. Beside, our history is so 
recent, that its details are familiar to the minds of all of 
adult age. The general features of that progress, with 
the grand outline of the domain upon which it has been 
made, are all that I shall attempt to present. 

Peogress being one of those indefinite terms, which are 
made, in the using, to mean, at times, almost anything, 
and at other times almost nothing, it may be proper to 
determine its signification as employed in this discourse. 
Ordinarily, it is made to stand for almost anything in the 
nature of movement, physical, moral, or spiritual — for- 
ward, sidewise, or backward. Here, it is used in its most 
comprehensive sense, as the equivalent of the term Hu- 
man Civilization. But even this explanation may be un- 
satisfactory ; for Civilization itself is a word more easily 
understood through its popular signification, than defined 
from its classical origin. Symbolically, it may be de- 
scribed as a plant of everlasting growth, whose roots are 
in the nature of man, which germinates in his savage 
state, which sends up its stately trunk and develops its 
beautiful foliage in his political or social condition, which 
unfolds its flowers only in a state of human excellence 
that has not yet been reached by any nation of the earth, 
and which finally matures its fruits among the angels of 
heaven, in the Great Hereafter. Or it may be presented 



6 

as an unbroken chain of events and consequences, whose 
beginning is in the soul of man as he exists upon earth, 
whose hnks are perfect to the Eternal Eye, though to the 
human vision their connection is often lost, Avhose differ- 
ent sections stretch from historic epoch to epoch, under 
the Supreme design and guidance binding together the 
whole, and whose end is in the bosom of God. 

But in less abstract terms, Civilization may be de- 
scribed as that part of human progress which takes man 
in his savage or his nomadic state, — that state which had 
its type in the Gothic hordes before the Conquest of 
Rome, or that which is represented now by the wild In- 
dian tribes of the North- American Continent, — and in- 
structs his understanding, cultivates the affections of his 
heart, elevates his tastes and desires, improves his physi- 
cal condition, till he is endowed with the arts generally of 
peaceful and associated life : agriculture, commerce, trade, 
manufactures, science, painting, sculpture, music, litera- 
ture, and others of the more elegant and refining accom- 
plishments of Society. 

The art and the weapons of war belong to the nomadic 
and the savage state, as do also religions, and, to some 
extent, the marriage relation, with more or less skill in 
rude fabrics. These, therefore, are not peculiar to civili- 
zation, though existing with it, and carried by it to a 
condition of refinement of which their original state gives 
but the feeblest promise. 

Neither Christianity, nor a knowledge of God, is 
necessarily a part of human civilization, in all its first 
developments, even to a state of very great perfection. 
The Apostle Paul found a high civilization at Athens, 



7 

where temples the most beautiful the world has seen 
were dedicated, in express terms, "To the Unknown 
God." Robespierre lived amid the highest civilization 
known in the eighteenth century, and in it the names of 
God and Christ were both mocked, and Human Reason 
was enthroned as the Supreme Intelligence. 

Modem civilization, however — which is but another 
term for Christian civilization — has a more compre- 
hensive signification than the word Civilization simply. 
The ancient civilizations were essentially selfish. Kings, 
priests, and nobles, were the almost exclusive recipients 
of their bounties, while the masses of people remained 
ignorant, oppressed, superstitious, and were of little 
weight in either the church or the state.* Amid the 
splendors of those old civilizations, agriculture, commerce, 
and manufactures, flourished; the art of war was carefully 
cultivated; and, among the opulent and selfish few, the 
elegant arts, literature, science, and the refinements of 
life generally, were carried to a high state of perfection. 
But all this was for the castes and orders, and not for the 
masses of men. The results were, the elevation of the 
few, and the degradation of the many. 

From those ancient civilizations, the modern civiliza- 
tion differs essentially. It is emphatically the civilization 
of MAN: not that of kings, priests, and nobles. It is 
pervaded by the spirit of Love — the spirit of Jesus — 
which is a spuit of good to man. . It is full-charged with 

* From this general characterizing, the Hebrew civilization, 
which had the knowledge of God, and was in some peculiar 
manner under his immediate direction, is, of course, excepted. 



the promises of the Gospel, which promises come to all 
who shall hear and heed them. It speaks to the 
poor and lowly, as nothing else has spoken, but the 
voice of the Son of God. It says to the proud noble, 
whose brows are decked with a dazzling coronet, to the 
priest at the altar, dressed in his shining vestments, to 
the monarch on his imperial throne, whose word is fate to 
the millions over whom his dominion extends, and whose 
blazonry of diamonds, and stars of gold, and robes of 
purple, rival the luster of the glittering heavens: '-^Diist 
thou art, and unto dust slialt tliou return!'''' while to the 
humblest human being, who looks up from his low estate 
and his hard toil, and blesses God, it shouts: "Be of good 
cheer! Thou art a man! The Son knoweth thee, and 
the Father forge tteth thee never! The day of deliver- 
ance draweth nigh!" 

The ancient civilizations were sensuous: the modern 
civilization is spuitual. The ancient civilizations encour- 
aged distinctions: the modern civilization proclaims, in 
tones that thrill and echo through the universe, "God is 
no respecter of persons ! " The ancient civilizations made 
of woman a slave to man's caprices, appetites, and power, 
and denied her anything approaching to equality of state 
with him: the modern civilization declares her equality, 
praises and protects her virtues, seeks to educate her in- 
tellect and develop her deepest affections, and proclaims her 
"a ministering angel" amid the doubt, and suffering, and 
nefarious wrongs of life. The ancient civilizations built 
the pyramids and the palaces of Egypt, founded the mag- 
nificent empires and the rich cities of Asia, erected the tem- 
ples of Greece, and constructed the Appian Way and the 



9 

Roman Aqueducts: the modern civilization builds the 
common school, the christian church, the lunatic asylum, 
the institution for the blind, the school for the deaf and 
dumb, the hospital, and the almshouse. The ancient 
civilizations inclosed their cities, and even their countries, 
within high and strong walls, to protect them alike from 
the rapacity and the weapons of neighboring peoples: 
the modern civilization connects its cities by good roads 
and canals, to invite visits from one another, and con- 
structs railways from state to state, and across continents 
from ocean to ocean, to facilitate intercommunication, and 
thus brings and binds peoples together, instead of walling 
them apart. The ancient civilizations decorated the 
walls and columns of their temples and dwellings with 
paintings and sculptures, representing personal conflicts, 
conquerors returning from battle bearing the dismembered 
heads of the slain, and other evidences of the bloody 
exertion of brate strength: the modern civilization fdls 
its private residences and public halls with paintings and 
statues that awaken the purer associations, call into 
activity the higher sentiments, and fill the mind and 
heart with images of beauty, truth, holiness, and love. 
The ancient civilizations sent armies abroad, to conquer 
and subdue with the sword and with fire: the modern 
civilization sends the schoolmaster and the missionary 
abroad, to conquer and subdue with intellectual light, 
with gospel truth, with human and divine love. 

Such in itself, and such by contrast, is Modern Civ- 
ilization: the Progress of which I speak. Eighteen 
hundred years ago its seeds were sown in Palestine and 
the Holy Land, and since then they have been silently 



10 

but ceaselessly germinating, and springing up, and spread- 
ing over the world, which is sooner or later to feel their 
presence in its whole extent. Just at this time, from 
the wickedness and folly of other nations and the favors 
shown our own, the elements of a civilization still higher 
than even this, seem to be gathering on the wide territo- 
ries of the United States. The physical and moral 
grounds upon which this is basing itself, and the social 
and spiritual conditions of its advancement, are topics 
which would seem to be worthy the consideration of all 
classes, but especially of the Historical Student and the 
Christian Philosopher. 

On the North-American Continent, scooped out by 
the hand of Omnipotence with wonderful adaptation to 
the wants of man, and the purposes of his existence, lies 
the most stupendous and favored Inland Valley upon 
which the sun shines. Having for its eastern edge the 
Allegheny and the Cumberland Mountains, and for its 
western the Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills, for 
its northern rim the summitlands between Lake Win- 
nipeg and the headwaters of the Mississippi River, and 
for its southern the Guadalupe Mountains and the Gulf 
of Mexico, it extends in one direction over tAventy-four 
parallels of longitude, and in the other embraces eighteen 
degi'ees of latitude. Within it are all the varieties of 
temperate climate, and all the geological and topograph- 
ical features that are essential to fit it for the residence 
of man. It produces in perfection all the fraits and 
vegetables that are most valued by civilized communities 
for wholesome and nutritive properties, and all the grains 



11 

that are so associated with the history of mankind, as to 
have received the name of "the staff of life." Its rivers 
are the most wonderful known to Christendom, and its 
lakes are so large, and commercially so important, as to 
have been designated " inland seas." Its mineral wealth 
is beyond computation; the richness of its soil is inex- 
haustible; and its general adaptation to the purposes of 
agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, is unsurpassed, 
perhaps unequaled, by that of any other part of the 
earth. 

GeogTaphically, it is difficult to conceive of anything 
better than the position of this great valley, whose plains 
stretch west from the base of the Allegheny Mountains 
to the Mississippi River, with an almost uniform pitch in 
that direction, and east from the base of the Rocky 
Mountains to the same water, with an almost uniform 
pitch in this direction, the two natural divisions meeting 
in that great trough, and finding on its edges their lowest 
common level. Into the immense channel on this level, 
pour, generally in an east and southeast direction, the 
waters from the hither slopes of the Rocky Mountains, 
and the drainage from the western half of the great 
valley: into it also pour, generally in a west and south- 
west direction, the waters from the hither slopes of the 
Alleghenies, and the drainage of the eastern half of the 
valley: showing that not only have the two natural 
divisions of this Great Basin Plain an eastern and a 
western declivity, but that both divisions have also a 
common pitch to the south, which at the same time 
canies their surplus waters into the Gulf of Mexico, 
exposes their fertile bosoms to the warm and generating 



12 

"beams of the sun, and secures to them an unfaihng 
prevalence of gentle and salubrious winds. 

The western of these two natural divisions of the great 
valley under view, is for the most part a desert land, and 
much of it mast for a long course of years remain so. 
Some of it, also, is totally unfitted for the abode of man, 
and will forever continue an uninhabited waste. But the 
uniformly cultivable character of the eastern division, is 
one of the most remarkable features of this region. This 
division is watered as is no other known country, and di- 
vided into uplands and lowlands, hillranges and interve- 
ning valleys, heavily-timbered tracts and naked prauies, 
which alternate over much of its surface in a manner the 
most favorable to the productive interests of life. Up- 
land and loAvland, prairie and forest, alil^e have a soil of 
great fertility, the capacity of which to produce, under 
good tillage, is inexhaustible. 

In this division of the great valley, natural and artifi- 
cial causes have induced a subdivision, the more impor- 
tant part of which is called the North- West. The region 
thus known has an almost uniform south-western expo- 
sure, and embraces nearly the whole of the valley north 
of thu-ty-six degrees thirty minutes, stretching from the 
western slopes of the Alleghenies to the Mississippi River, 
and beyond that great natural Hue ascending the west- 
ern division first to the eighteenth parallel of longitude 
west fi'om Washington, then to the nineteenth parallel, 
and finally (in Minnesota) to the twentieth. This region, 
as now organized and civilly divided, embraces the States 
of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michi- 
gan, Iowa, and Wisconsin, with Minnesota Territory, 



13 

the aggregate superficial area of wliich is 478,349 square 
miles — to which I add a small strip of Western Virginia 
and Western Pennsylvania lying immediately upon the 
Ohio River, and on its two forming tributaries chiefly near 
their point of confluence, and obtain, in round numbers, 
the grand territoral extent of 500,000 square miles, or 
three hundred and twenty millions of acres : * a territorial 
superficies greater than the entire extent of the Original 
Thuieen States of the Union. 

This is the great field of observation, that is now spread 
before me. And ere surveying it, with a view to my ulti- 
mate purpose, it is necessary to go back to some specific 
period, as a starting point from which to trace its pro- 
gTess. We are now just at the middle of a hundred 
years. The meridian line of the nineteenth century is 
over our heads. Fifty years is but a short time in the his- 
tory of great nations: and fifty years ago the oldest State t 
of this region, was admitted into the Union. To the be- 
ginning of this century, then, let us turn, for a moment, 
and see what there was in the region under vieAV, at that 
time, to invite the presence of civilized man. At Pitts- 
burgh, at Marietta, at Cincinnati, at the Falls of the Ohio, 
on the Muskingum, the Kentucky, the Wabash, the Up- 
per Mississippi, and the Illinois Rivers, and scattered about 
at a few other points, Avere small villages, composed in 
part of hardy adventurers, soldiers, and traders, in a small 
degree of men of education and ambition, who had sought 

* See note A. 

t Kentucky, it is true, was admitted in 1792, but did not fairly 
get "under way" as a State till 1799, when she amended her 
Constitution. 



14 

the region that they might grow up with it to wealth and 
distinction, and to some extent of religious missionaries 
and their converts from among the aboriginal tribes. 
There were none of the refinements of life here, and but 
few of its comforts. The whole population of the State of 
Kentucky was then 220,955 persons, that of what is now 
the State of Ohio was 45,oC5, and that of Indiana 4,875. 
And this was about all : 271,195 persons, scattered over 
an area of 500,000 square miles — making an average of 
one person to a fraction less than two square miles. On 
the Ohio River were a few barges and keelboats, and now 
and then one or two of this description of craft would 
ascend the Upper Mississippi to St. Louis; but the waters 
of the Illinois, the Wabash, and other streams, and those 
also of the Lakes, were still swept by the birchen bark of 
the Indian. Ten years later, Kentucky had a population 
of 406,511 persons, Ohio of 230,700, Indiana of 24,520, 
Missouri of 20,845, lUinois of 12,282, and Michigan of 
4,762 : making an agregate of 699,680, or one person 
on the average to about every three quarters of a mile 
square. 

The tide of emigration had now fairly set in this direc- 
tion. Little communities were pitching their tents and 
building then' cabins on most of the better streams. The 
settler's ax resounded through the depths of the wilder- 
ness in all directions, and the blue smoke curled above 
the tops of the tall trees, at once advising newcomers of 
the presence of a habitation, and giving the watcliful sav- 
age note of a place where he might strike at those who 
were encroaching on his old heritage. The Indians were 
now receding fast before the whites — going reluctantly, but 



15 

every year further and further — then' dark forms disap- 
pearing in the recesses of the wilderness, as the dusky 
shadows of a dark and unblcst age, recede and disappear 
before the light of a high, christian civilization. And 
all this continued — and in another period of ten years, 
the population of the region had swelled to 1,423,622. 

A new agent of civilization and settlement was now in- 
troduced. The keel of the steamboat had been plowing 
the waters of the West for three or four years. This de- 
scription of navigation was no longer a mere experiment. 
Speaking relatively to what was then attempted, it had 
succeeded ; and every time the escape of steam or the 
splash of the paddles woke the echoes of the still solitary 
shores, a requiem sounded for the departing Indian, and a 
song of gladness went up for the arrival of his adventur- 
ous successor. The genius of Fulton was, in the hands 
of these adventurers, the Lamp of Aladin : it opened to 
them freely the doors of the Great West, fi'ightened away 
their enemies, and displayed to their enraptured gaze, the 
many and ghttering charms of this beautiful land. And 
still the paddles dashed the waters — and still the pier- 
cing shriek of the escapepipe woke the deep echoes — 
and still the child of the forest receded further and further 
— and still rolled on the stream of emigration, through the 
gaps of the Cumberland, over the bights of the AUeghenies, 
down into the rich valley through which coursed the calm 
waters of the Ohio. And another period of ten years 
passed — the third decade in the half century — and the 
population was become 2,298,390. 

By this time, over nearly the whole broad bosom of the 
region which I have mapped out, were scattered the habi- 



16 

tations of men, and introduced the institutions of christian, 
civilized life. In the interiors of its different sections, the 
wigwams of the savage had given place to the cabins of 
the newcomers, and the farmhouses of the first settlers. 
On the small streams, which everywhere sent up their 
glad voices, giving to the deep solitude a tongue that 
was eloquent, the hand of enterprise had taken the wil- 
ling waters, and borne them to the clattering wheels of the 
manufactory, where they labored and yet sported, and, 
like virtue, were overruled and yet free. On the broad 
lakes, on the mighty rivers, the arm of Steam — 

" That flesliless arm, whose pulses leap 
With floods of living fire," — 

was propelling the gigantic hull, freighted with hundreds 
of human beings, coming from afar to cultivate the land, 
to fabricate its crude products, to engage in trade and 
commerce, to " multiply and replenish the earth." On the 
great natural highAvays, populous cities had taken the 
place of the primeval groves, and the schoolhouse, the 
church, the depots of commerce, and the elegant mansion, 
invited the on-coming multitudes to seek in and around 
them new and better homes. And the years of the fourth 
decade Avere told, and the population had swelled to 
4,131,370 souls. 

Still went on the Avork. The seat of a commerce of 
hundreds of milhons per year, was this now populous 
region.* The marts of its trade Avere filled Avith the sur- 
plus products of its soil, Avhich were borne away in thou- 
sands of vessels, to feed the hungry in less-favored lands. 

* See note B. 



17 

Its flocks were feeding on unnumbered hills, and in count- 
less fields its crops sprang up, and ripened, and bowed be- 
fore the sickle. That subtle Power, which by water had 
brought its myriads of people to its generous bosom, and 
borne its rich products away in exchange for what its own 
son did not yield, scorned longer to be confined to the 
rivers and the lakes, and their comparatively slow-moving 
keels. Springing upon the diy land, and seeking the 
iron tracks which science and labor had laid on the lev- 
eled earth, he clutched the loaded car with his invisible 
fingers, and bore it from point to point, for hundreds of 
miles, with an ease and a velocity before unknown — 

" The beatings of his mighty heart" 

still sounding through the storm or the calm, and giving 
the only note of his approach, as he rushed through for- 
est and field, over streams and marshes, and around the 
bases of many hills, with his gigantic burden. Nor was 
this enough. For commerce it might have been, and for 
bodily transit from place to place, but not for thought. 
And next flashed upon human genius the still more sub- 
tle essence of the electric spark ; and hither came its Avhis- 
pering wires, stretching from hill to hill and from state to 
state, crossing mountains, leaping ravines, spanning rivers, 
and bearing to the depths of this far Interior, in the 
twinkling of an eye, the message spoken a thousand miles 
away, on the outer rim of the vast Continent. And the 
human tide has still rolled on and on — and the re- 
moter forests of this region have been pierced and sub- 
dued, tni the solitudes that, at the period from which this 
retrospect started, heard only the eternal chime of the 
2 



18 

Falls of St. Anthony, and the wild voices of the dark 
Chippeways, are filling with the homes of civilized man, 
and becoming vocal with prayers and hymns of thanks- 
giving to God. And the fifth decade has gone by, and 
seven millions now number the population of this region, 
which a half century ago, as was shown, contained less 
than 300,000 souls!* 

Only two prominent facts remain to be mentioned, as 
entering into and assisting this wonderful progress. One 
of them is that blessed boon, the Ordinance of 1787, 
which sprang from the profound regard of the Fathers of 
the Republic for the Rights of Man, and forever closed 
the doors of all that part of the region under view, which 
lies north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi rivers, 
against the entrance of human slavery ; the other is the 
evidence which the settlement of this region has afforded, 
that it lies in just that geographical belt of the globe, to 
which the natural sagacity of man leads him, when he is 
departing from an old and seeking a new home. These 
two facts, I shaU consider together. The circumstances that 
connected them, indeed, render them almost inseparable. 

A year ago, in preparing for publication some historical 
and statistical matter about the North- West, I had occa- 
sion to construct a series of tables, for the purpose of ex- 
hibiting the influence of lines of latitude on increase of 
population. Though I shall not burden your minds with 
a repetition of these tables here, yet some of the results 
thus obtained I shaU use, as fuUy answering my present 
purpose. And, with a 'view to what is to be done here as 

* See note C. 



19 

well as to what has been done, I start out with the distinct 
proposition, already intimated, that the region of country 
of which I am treating — the North-West — lies in the 
geographical belt the most favorable of any, to the growth 
and support of a numerous, athletic, free, and enterprising 
people. 

There is an accepted theory among political econo- 
mists, I know, that, as the productiveness of land depends 
principally on heat and moisture, and these increase as 
the equator is approached, the nearer you go to that 
line the more luxuriant and uninterrupted becomes the 
vegetation; and hence the completer the abundance of 
food, and the greater the capacity of supporting a numer- 
ous population. * And to sustain this theory elaborate 
tables have been constructed, setting forth, among other 
things, that maize, which produces forty or fifty for one 
in France, will produce one hundred and fifty on the 
average in Mexico; that an arpent of land, which will 
scarcely support two men when sown in wheat, will 
support fifty when planted in bananas; that the same 
extent of ground which supports four persons at the 
latitude of sixty degrees north, will support fifteen at 
the latitude of forty-five, and one hundred at (0) the 
equator; and that as eighty-five is to thirty-five, so is 
the productiveness of the useful soil within thirty degrees 
of the equator, as compared with that of the useful soil 
beyond thirty degrees and within sixty — the latter being 
capable of supporting two hundred persons to each square 
mile, and the former four hundred and ninety persons. 

Though mean temperature, which is influenced by 
altitude, as well as latitude, is an important element in 



20 

calculations of this kind, and may very materially modify 
the preceding theory, yet, that this theory is true in 
respect to that sort of persons whom bananas and other 
tropical fruits will produce and satisfy, I do not care to 
dispute. Indeed, so far as the theory applies to mere 
numbers, I am willing to admit its correctness. But mere 
numbers do not make great nations. The men of bananas 
are not the men of muscle or mind — not the men among 
whom free. Christian institutions can be successfully 
introduced, and the arts of production, fabrication, and 
exchange be made to flourish. The latitude of the 
banana may present fascinations to an effeminate emigra- 
tion, as that in which Nature produces food without the 
necessity of physical or intellectual exertion on the part 
of those who are to consume it, and in which clothes are 
not among the necessaries of life. So, too, a barbarian 
emigration, driven by wars or oppressions from the frozen 
North, may seek again the latitude of the polar bear, 
whose flesh will satisfy the cravings of hunger, and whose 
skin protect from the severity of cold — the natural 
enemy to be encountered being thus converted, as it 
were, into the fi?iend that feeds and clothes. But the 
latitude of the cereal grains, of the wholesome and 
various fruits of the northern temperate zone, of wool, 
and flax, and hemp, is that which a civlUzed emigration 
will seek. And this is the latitude of The North- West — 
the region which I have designated "the most favorable 
of any, to the growth and support of a numerous, athletic, 
free, and enterprising population." 

Let us see, now, what the history of the last half 
century will say to this theory. By the year 1800, 



21 

the American people had achieved their political Inde- 
pendence, and fairly started in their career of national 
greatness. The principal states then south of thirty-six 
degrees thirty minutes, were North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina, and Georgia — contiguous territory, and all lying on 
the Atlantic seaboard. The aggregate superficial area of 
these states is 131,500 square miles. Their total popu- 
lation in the year 1800 was 985,795, and in 1840, 
2,039,209. This shows an increase, in forty years, of 
1,053,414, or nearly 107 per cent, for that period. 

The nearest equivalent, in states, which can be found 
to the preceding area, on the seaboard north of thirty- 
six degrees thirty minutes, is composed of Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, and Maryland — all, likewise, contiguous territory. 
The aggregate superficial area of these states is 130,853 
square miles. Their total population in the year 1800 
was 2,571,330, and in 1840, 6,335,904. This shows an 
increase, in forty years, of 3,764,574, or 146 per cent.* 

By these figures it is shown, that the natural saga- 
city which, previous to the j^ear 1800, had planted a 
population of 2,571,330 persons on an area of about 
131,000 square miles of territory north of thirty-six 
degrees thirty minutes, and a population of only 985,795 
persons on an equal area south of that parallel, manifested 
itself thereafter in even a more striking degree, for the 
period of forty years — increasing the population of the 
former territory during that time 146 per cent., and that 
of the latter not quite 107 per cent. Or, varying the 

* See note D. 



22 

form of the statement a little, and extending the length 
of the period by taking an official estimate of population 
from 1840 to 1850, we have these comparative results, as 
to the two areas: Population to the square mile of the 
area north in 1800, 19i; of the area south, 7i. Popu- 
lation to the square mile of the area north in 1850, 54i; 
of the area south, 14i. Showing that, in the space of 
half a century, a particular area on the Atlantic slope, 
north of thirty -six degrees thirty minutes, increased its 
population thkty-five to the square mile, while an equiva- 
lent area on the same slope, south of that parallel, 
increased its population only seven to the square mile. 
And now, in order to take a more comprehensive view, 
and for the sake of entke fairness, let us leave the sea- 
board, and pass over the Allegheny and the Cumberland 
Mountains, down into the great Inland VaUey described 
at the opening of this discourse. According to the 
elaborate Report pubhshed from the General Land 
Office in Washington City, in 1849, the entire extent 
of organized territory in the United States is 1,419,405 
square miles.* Pursuing the parallel thu'ty-six degrees 
thirty minutes through this, from the Atlantic coast 
to the western line, we have 701,057 square miles as 
the proportion of the southern division, and 718,348 
square mUes as the proportion of the northern division. 
These two divisions of the organized territory of the 
United States, by an east and west line, are so nearly 
equal in extent, as to make the presentation of their 

* See note E. 



23 

aggregate and separate populations, past and present, a 
matter of deep interest. 

THREE PERIODS. 1830. 1840. 1850. 

Aggregate population, 12,866,920 17,063,353 21,412,230 
Northern division, 9,622,016 12,724,065 16,009,290 

Southern division, 3,244,904 4,339,288 5,402,940 

By this statement it appears, that while the southern 
division has in twenty years increased its aggregate num- 
bers QQ^ per cent, on a population of 3,244,904, the 
northern division has in the same period increased 66^ per 
cent., on three times that population ! Or, in other words, 
while the southern division, which twenty years ago had 
an average population of 4 6-10 persons to the square 
mile of her territory, has now an average of 7 7-10, the 
northern division, which twenty years ago had an average 
of 13 4-10 persons to the square mile, has now an average 
of 22 3-10: the latter having increased her numbers 
nearly nine to the square mile since the year 1830, and 
the former having increased hers but a fraction over three 
to the square mile ! Another thing appears from this 
statement, which is not be overlooked, viz., that while 
within a very small fraction of a full half of the entire or- 
ganized territory of the United States lies south of thirty- 
six degrees thirty minutes, yet north of that parallel is 
almost full three-fourths of our entire population ! 

Why, now, is this so ? Why, even supposing original 
settlement to have been somewhat in favor of the north 
side of the line — why is it that the disparity existing 
between the two divisions a half century ago, has been 
growing greater and greater ever since, and always in 



24 

favor of the region north of the dividing line ? Can any 
other answer be given than this ? That, after proper al- 
lowance for the influence of freedom in the one, and slavery 
in the other, it is because the natural sagacity of which we 
have spoken instinctively seeks the temperate regions of 
the North- West, with their cereal grains, their superior 
meats, their abundant fruits, their wholesome vegetables, 
their wool, flax, and hemp, rather than the hotter clime of 
the South-West in the same longitude, with its cotton, 
sugar, rice, maize, and its yams, oranges, and " hananas.^^ 
And this brings us directly to another point in this 
part of the argument. Official documents show, that of 
the pubhc lands of the United States subject to location 
on military warrants, under the act of February, 1847, 
nearly a foil half (47 i per cent.) was, at the time of the 
passage of that act, in the States of the South-West. In- 
telligent persons will not have forgotten, that in the some- 
what celebrated "Address of Southern Delegates in 
CongTess to their Constituents," agreed upon in Washing- 
ton City on the 22d of January, 1849, it was claimed 
that the South had furnished for the Mexican War about 
two thirds of the entire number of volunteers, leaving one 
third for the North. But we will cany^ a part of this claim 
to the credit of that harmless gasconade in which Southern 
Members of Congress are somewhat prone to indulge, and 
suppose that the two divisions of the Union, cut by the 
parallel thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, furnished about 
equal portions of the volunteers for the War. Well, then 
— official documents, again, show that to the 1st of Jan- 
uary, 1849, a total of 2,533,429 acres of land had been 
located on warrants under the law of February, 1847 — 



25 

2,358,229 acres of which was located in the North-West, 
and only 175,200 acres in the South- West.* 

Allow me to repeat : — The lands subject to entry as 
aforesaid lay about half and half in each of the two sec- 
tions, North- West and South-Wcst; the volunteers to 
whom the warrants were issued, belonged in nearly equal 
numbers to the two great divisions of the country, the 
North and the South ; yet 93 per cent, of the locations 
the first two years are made in the North- West, and but 
7 per cent, in . the South-West ! A very large propor- 
tion of the waiTants, it is true, had passed out of the 
hands of the original holders, the volunteers, into those 
of speculators, and emigrants seeking settlement; but 
that does not in the least change the nature of the argu- 
ment, or affect its strength. The demonstration seems to 
me to be one of singular clearness and force. Natural 
Sagacity was free to act as it pleased. With its warrant in 
its hand, it could look to the South-West and to the North- 
West, and make choice as it listed. And it did so look 
and make choice. Leaving the rice-swamps to the left, 
with their " ardent sun," and their " peculiar " culture, it 
sought the wheatfields on the right, with their invigora- 
ting breezes, and their exulting freedom ; and driving its 
stake in the latter, it looked proudly and manfully around, 
and exclaimed, " Tins is mine ! " 

Such, without descending to the details of religious, hu- 
mane, and educational institutions, of rail-road structures 
and canals, of river navigation, commerce, and manufac- 
tures, are the great facts of Progress in the North- West. 
And what do they indicate ? Clearly, to my mind, that 

*See Note F. 



26 

here, in this region of vast capabilities, whose physical 
features I have hastily dehneated, and whose material and 
moral progress I have portrayed in general terms, is to be 
tried an Experiment in Humanity, higher in its character, 
and sublimer in its results, than any yet known. Hither- 
ward come not alone the Christian institutions of eighteen 
centuries, and the art, literature, philosophy, and science 
of six thousand years, but the men of all nations, distrust- 
ing the teachings of the past, unsatisfied with the courses 
of the present, and hopeful only of the future. My own 
idea is that here, on this magnificent domain — this un- 
dulating plain, that extends from the beautiftil bases of 
the Allegheny Mountains to the broad, fertile shores of the 
Mississippi River, and stretches its arms from near the 
thirty-sixth quite to the forty-second degree of north lati- 
tude — are in time to be witnessed the freest forms of 
social development, and the highest order of human civili- 
zation. 

The immediate present is manifestly an era of transi- 
tion, in all this region. That State which was the first here 
erected, has just laid aside the organic law which she 
adopted a half century ago, and entered on a new career 
under a Constitution more popular in its forms. The ex- 
ample of Kentucky, Ohio is now about to follow ; and the 
General Assembly of this State will doubtless hold its next 
sittings, under an organic law altogether more popular in 
its provisions, and more suitable for the constitution of a 
free, numerous, and progressive people, than that with 
which we commenced our career, forty-seven years ago. 

The same forward impulse, is influencing the whole of 
this North-West region. Illinois adopted a new Constitu- 



27 

tion two years ago. Indiana will meet in Convention in 
October next, and frame an organic law more promotive 
than the present one, of the great interests of her people. 
Michigan, erected into a State only fifteen years ago, has 
already outgrown her constitutional garments, and deter- 
mined to try the virtues of new ones, in her future strides 
to greatness. Principles, of popular right and social ne- 
cessity, not recognized when these several States were or- 
ganized, lie at the bottom of all these changes. 

But it is not in reference to political constitutions alone, 
that this era of transition is manifested. A humaner 
spirit of legislation is seeking to secure to every family 
its Homestead, beyond the contingencies of trade, misfor- 
tune, or chicanery. Attention is also turning every day, 
more and more, to the inequalities of woman in the mari- 
tal state ; and it is not extravagant to hope that ere long, 
to wed will not be to dispossess her of the ownership 
and control of property with which she enters into the 
marriage relation. 

But it would be tedious, and is unnecessary, to specify 
all the various indications given, that a Day is dawning 
upon this North- Western region, which will come with a 
light that shall penetrate many a poor home that is now 
dark, and a warmth that shall reach and bless its now 
shivering inmates, and a voice that shall sound cheer- 
ingly in their dull and listless ears, awaking them to a 
just sense of their real dignity and importance in the so- 
cial scale, by proclaiming to them that they are neither 
slaves nor nonentities, but true men and women. 

What, till within a very few years past, the onward- 
coming multitudes have found on arriving here, has been, 



28 

chiefly, physical sufficiency, great intellectual expertness, 
a degree of moral independence wholly new to them, and 
capacity for almost indefinite extension, either morally, in- 
tellectually, or physically. Coming in among us by hun- 
dreds and thousands, as they now are and for years have 
been, their gentler and fiercer passions, like meadow riv- 
ulets and mountain torrents, mixing in with and modify- 
ing our own, and their art, science and literature, their 
hardhandedness and willingheartedness, and their expe- 
riences of life generally, giving to and receiving from ours 
new impulses and new directions, the whole soon flow to- 
gether in one common stream of Humanity, which will be 
found iiTcsistible by any barriers that may oppose its 
course, and inevitably give new and peculiar aspects to 
the region and the era wherein it holds its way. 

With a land like that upon which our attention has 
been turned, and a people like those whose elements I 
have hastily and partially presented, and a time like the 
present in the history of Human Progress, to suppose 
that we are here to see but a segment of the old circle 
traveled over again, is to give mankind a place in the 
scale of being lower than that which I have heretofore 
assigned them, and to have an opinion of the designs, 
wisdom, and power of Providence, which I hope never to 
possess. It is my firm belief, that out of the crude 
materials now collected and collecting in this mighty 
North-West — materials that are just now taking forms 
of symmetry, and exhibiting a homogeneousness that has 
not heretofore belonged to them — are to come arts and 
institutions and educations, better fitted for the uses and 



29 

enjoyments of man, and more promotive of those high 
developments that are within the capacities of his nature, 
than anything which the world has yet seen. 

To you, my friends, and to me, in our brief day, will 
be permitted but feeble glimpses of the dawning of the 
"great glory" that is yet to rest upon this region, and 
radiate to the uttermost ends of the earth. As it was 
with the Hebrew of old, who toiled on through many 
years and many sorrows, and reached at last the point 
from which the beauty of the Land of Promise burst 
upon his rapt vision only to close his eyes forever, so 
will it be with us: we shall see "the morning star" of a 
great day for man — we may even behold in the eastern 
sky the red streakings of the gray dawn — but ere the 
rising of the sun himself, which is to usher in the Day 
of Tnith, Justice, Mercy, and Love, our eyes wUl have 
been closed in death. 

It is something, however, to have the faith that this 
day is to come; and in holding it firm against all discour- 
agements, and cherishing it in the midst of the infidelity 
that surrounds us, we shall find our sufficient reward. 



11. The Conditions of Future Advance7nent in the 
North-Western States. 

1\\ passing to the second division of my subject, and 
entering upon the consideration of the Conditions of our 
Future Advancement, I must ask you to let your minds 
revert, for an instant, to the picture which, at the outset, 
I drew of this region. Remember its longitudinal extent. 



30 

and the degrees of latitude that it embraces. Cast your 
mental vision over the whole broad domain, as if you 
were looking upon the map that portrays it. See how 
abundantly it is supphed with lakes and rivers; observe 
how compact it is, and of what goodly shape; recollect 
what you know of the fertility of its soil, and the salu- 
brity of its chmate ; bethink you of the wonderful extent 
of its mineral treasures; call to mind what you have seen 
and felt of the strong common sense, the courage, and 
the energies of its people; and, surveying its trade, 
its commerce, its manufactures, its cities, its internal 
improvements, its astonishing physical progress generally, 
contrast what it was fifty years ago, with what it is now. 
And that done, permit me to remind you that its super- 
ficial area is five hundred thousand square miles in extent, 
and that its present population is not less than seven 
milhons of souls. And, further, allow me to call your 
attention to the fact, that these seven millions of people 
are the makers of the constitutions under which their 
several state governments are organized, the framers of 
the laws that control them in their relations one to 
another and each to all, and the appointers of their own 
executive officers, their own custodians of the public 
treasures, and their own legislators and judges. And 
when this is through, you have before your minds a 
country, a people, and a social condition, to which, 
especially in the remarkable combination presented, no 
parallel can be shoAvn you, in any country of the earth, 
or any age of the world. 

But, while the extent, beauty, and fertihty of the 
country is admitted, and the numbers and virtues of the 



31 

people are not denied, I may anticipate some objection 
on one point. I may be told that the political institu- 
tions are not so po^mlar as I have represented them to 
be — that the people, to some considerable extent, do 
the things which I have attributed to their direct action, 
through intermediates, who may, and often do, abuse and 
betray the confidence reposed in them. To this I reply, 
that that objection has force only as to practice and the 
past: theory and the future strip it of any further 
pertinence. 

That which the institutions of this region lack, of the 
popular elements, they are fast receiving. /7?/^r-mediates 
are rapidly passing away, and M??-mediates taking their 
places. That reverence for constitutions and laws, which 
has existed among the people from the time when king- 
craft and priestcraft first bound them in statutory chains, 
tUl the nineteenth century, notwithstanding that in their 
name the most flagrant of wrongs have been perjietrated 
against those for whose good they oaght to have been 
designed, is now fast disappearing. And as this vanishes, 
the Chinese walls that have hedged in ambitious and unprin- 
cipled rulers, and protected them from popular indignation, 
are tumbling about their heads, and proclaiming that 
henceforth there is no safety for them but in Right and 
and Justice. And all this is well. 

No one, I trust, will suppose that I stand here to 
excuse the disregard of laws, or justify infractions of 
constitutions. Happily, in this land, there are orderly 
remedies for all grievances under either the fundamental 
or the statute law. If the latter do not attain the just 
ends of legislation, repeal, or amend till it shall. If the 



32 

former, Avhich answered its purpose in an earlier state of 
society, and when extended over smaller numbers of 
people, is insufficient for present wants, remodel, or sub- 
stitute it wholly by another. What meets my approba- 
tion, and what I rejoice at, is, that "the sanctity of the 
law" is a departing sentiment: for this sentiment has 
hedged in abuses, of the grossest character, from time 
immemorial; and the wonder now should be, not that it 
has had its day, but that that day has endured so long. 
The form of the law is but ink and parchment: why 
reverence iti The Sjnrit of the law is all that is worthy 
of regard: and if this be evil, exorcise it at once; if it be 
good, it has a self-sastaining power that will preserve it, 
and secure its ultimate triumph, though erring reason 
may at times place it under ban. 

The history of mankind does not show that govern- 
ments have been too little respected by the people. On 
the contrary, it shows that they have been too much re- 
spected; that the people have been patient, when pa- 
tience was no longer a virtue — that they have submitted, 
when they ought to have resisted — that they have up- 
held, when they should have overtlu-own. And all this, 
through a feeling of reverence, carefully inculcated at all 
times, for what has so often been without anything rev- 
erential in its character. Why this deep regard for that 
which, in its very nature, is always of today and yester- 
day, and never, if man be progressive, of tomorroiv ? May 
I ask, What is Government ? and detain you a moment, 
while I seek for the reply ? 

The first definition that occurs to me, which is at once 
simple and comprehensive, is, that Government is Rule — 



33 

a rule — a set of mles, under which men agree to exist — 
to live together in communities, states, nations. As thus 
defined, Government has three distinct elements : /orm, 
which is its ink and parchment ; prindjolcs, which are its 
vital spiiit, and the parent of parties, into which they 
project themselves ; and men, who are at the same time 
its object and its motive powers : its object, because it 
was instituted for them ; its motive powers, because it 
was instituted hy them, and can be traced back only 
to them, and has no other permanent stimulant or sus- 
tainer of its vital spirit, which but for them would depart 
from it. 

If this analysis be correct, as I think it is, man must 
necessarily be stationary, or Government must necessarily 
be progressive. But that man is not stationary, the in- 
stincts of his nature, the aspirations of his soul, the his- 
tory of his life upon earth, all abundantly show. Neither, 
then, is Government, in its nature, stationary : because it 
is of man and for man, and before him or after him is not. 
In some form, and for a purpose definite and clear, it was 
yesterday, and answered its end. Today the vital spirit, 
its principles, and the motive powers, its men, having out- 
grown and advanced beyond the necessities of yesterday, 
need, demand, and will have, a correspondent growth and 
advance in their institutions. Tomori'ow, the old has de- 
parted — the neiv is here — the need has been supplied — 
and all is well. Man and Government again go on to- 
gether — both harmonious, both progressive. 

Why, all this being so, do we find progressive move- 
ments exciting alarm in so many breasts ? Why is it 
that change is so resolutely opposed ? Why, I again ask, 
3 



34 

is a respect, amounting almost to sanctity, so studiously 
inculcated, for that which in its very nature, as I think I 
have shown, is always of today and yesterday, and never 
of tomorrow ? It can only be, because the origin and na- 
ture of Government are not understood. Among the pro- 
blems to be worked out, during the next half century, on 
the ground which the last half century has opened and 
prepared for the occupancy and advancement of man, this 
is one. 

With this opposition to change, too — this resistance 
of progressive tendencies — are often heard the most 
earnest and even mournful deprecations of Party. For 
one, I have no fears of parties, if the school be but kept 
open, and the pulpit perform honestly and zealously its 
appropriate office. Let them organize • — one, two, three 
— as many as have a good and living principle to cluster 
around. If I am true to myself, they will not harm me : 
if I am false to any man, and suffer thence, I can have 
no just cause of complaint. And what is true of me, is 
true of all. I regard Party, indeed, as of the very es- 
sence of Freedom, and acknowledge no incompatibility 
whatever between the loftiest patriotism and the firmest 
partizanship. Let us look into this thought a little 
deeper. 

Society exists, and is under certain laws established for 
its welfare. These laws are its rules of action, and make 
themselves felt through what is called Government. In 
operation, this government, which in itself is nothing but 
an abstraction — the parchment and ink of which I have 
spoken — assumes a distinctive, concrete, individual form. 
In the hands of bad administrators, it overlooks some 



35 

laws, and transcends the power conferred upon it by others. 
A portion of the people — a part of this society — de- 
clare, for certain specified reasons, that the administrators 
are dishonest, that they do not exercise their authority so 
as to secure the general welfare, that the Government is 
made to oppress instead of bless them. They league 
together, and thus become a Party. They embody 
and unite their reasons, and these reasons become their 
Principles. Now, without the Party, where is the vitality 
of the Principles ? What can they do in theii' original 
character of simple reasons ? They are mere abstrac- 
tions — almost without form^ — equally without power. 
Still, they are Principles ; but Principles without Parties, 
having no active strength with which to effect change, are 
matters of contempt, or, if not so, can be crushed 
under the heel of Government in a moment. But, 
give them the embodiment and strength of party 
adoption and enforcement, and Government at once feels 
their power, denies their correctness, and organizes its 
forces to dispute their establishment and prevent the 
changes at which they aim. Here, then, is another 
Party, with reasons for its organization, which are Us prin- 
ples. Now, notwithstanding that these latter reasons 
have already an embodiment and power, springing as they 
do from the Government, and supported as they are by 
the authority and patronage of its administrators, still, 
what would they be, wherein would consist their strength 
to resist the calm, deliberate, unfaltering assaults of the 
principles that have declared against them, without taking 
the form, and receiving the life and vigor, of Party? 



36 

They would be swept before the contending force, as stub- 
ble before the flame. 

It is one of the glories of the Christian dispensation, 
that it quickened the seeds of Party, and brought with 
it the elements of civU and religious liberty. Out of 
these, chiefly, has grown an instrumentality of human 
freedom, second only to Christianity itself, in its power 
to promote the full development of man. This instru- 
mentahty is the Representative Principle: a principle 
not first perceived under Christianity, nor first applied on 
the American Continent; but one to which Christianity 
alone has given fiiU scope, and of which the American 
Continent only has witnessed the fi:ee and enlarged 
application. 

This principle is so important, that without hyperbole 
it may be called the lever of civilization. By it man 
can upturn the old at will, and make way for the neiv. 
Through its operation, every new truth that he may 
evolve, every new virtue that he may practice, every new 
sentiment of humanity that may spring up in his breast, 
every new feature of progress that may be discerned in 
the great profound of Thought, can be as instantaneously 
reflected from his political institutions, as the stars that 
come out upon the sky, one by one, yet a multitudinous 
host, beautiful and holy in their light, are reflected from 
the dewdrop, the lake, the ocean beneath. With this 
great principle, applied in its fullness and upheld in its 
purity, institutions are but the periodical embodiments of 
the spirit of progress — the seen forms of felt convic- 
tions — the minutes made, as it were, in the proceedings 
of the Great Convention of Mankind upon Earth. 



37 

As profounder truths are perceived, and a higher 
sentiment of reverence for God and his works anmiates 
the soul and directs the life of man, the Representative 
Principle gives to his institutions a new form and a new 
expression. Thus the people are seen in their institu- 
tions, as they ought to be; and thus, as the aspects of 
the people vary, the reflection changes in the institutions, 
and both move forward together, forever harmonious. 

But from aU this, let it not for a moment be supposed 
that I look upon the great Experiment in Humanity of 
which I have spoken, as something that is to be made, 
most especially as something that is to succeed, in the 
midst of party turbulence and dishonesty, in the face 
of ever-fluctuating policies, and in the presence of capri- 
cious changes of institutions, that leave nothing certain, 
nothing quiet, nothing secure. 

With or without parties, there can be no real devel- 
opment or progress, while turbulence and dishonesty 
inflame men's minds and destroy their confidence. Lines 
of pohcy, be they good or bad, must necessarfly have 
their day, in which to show their fuU bearings, and what 
there is in them, or they will be recurred to again and 
again, by those who had faith in them, and who will 
never be satisfied or quieted tifl they shall have had 
reasonable trial.* Institutions of government, above all, 
must have time to perform the work for which they are 
established. Capricious changes, for insufiicient causes, 
are not to be permitted. When the people advance 
beyond, or fall behind, the point in human or national 

* See note F. 



38 

progress occupied when certain institutions first go into 
operation among them, change is legitimate, is necessary, 
and should be sought and made. There are, then, 
absolute things, representing positive facts: changes in 
institutions, because there have been changes in the 
people out of whom those institutions grew, and over 
whom they were extended: new rules, adapted to and 
reflecting new conditions. 

All this is reasonable, philosophical, and in strict 
accordance with the laws which I have endeavored to 
develop. The institutions of government, and the prin- 
ciples of parties, are necessarily, from the very nature of 
things, not of a day, but of an epoch. The changes that 
occur in the progress of nations, rendering things appli- 
cable and indispensable at one time, inapplicable and 
dispensable at another, are results wrought out with the 
gradual march of civilization, or the rapider movement of 
decadence, and do not belong to the " conclusions " that 
are sometimes "jumped at " in worldly affairs. 

While, therefore, we are compelled to deny to human 
governments, and the principles that arise under them, 
everything in the nature of ^^erpetiiality, we are equally 
compelled to insist on reasonable stability, or all is confu- 
sion : such stability, however, as promotes, instead of re- 
tarding, spiritual development and social progress. 

The new and glorious Experiment in Humanity, then, 
commences here, on the broad fields of the North West, 
which I have depicted — under Christianity, with that 
great agent, the Representative Principle, in the abiding 
faith that Progress is the order of man through the design 
of God. 



39 

The faith I have that the Progress of which I speak 
is here to be made, not in a day, or a generation, but in 
a period of time commensurate with a mighty work, if men 
be but true to the requirements of their nature, and to 
then- convictions of right, and fail not in their allegiance 
to the Supreme Disposer of all events, is not a heart-sick 
fancy or a blind belief It does not lean for support upon 
the crutch of " Manifest Destiny," nor yet trust to a light 
in the hands of that great but unsafe guide about which 
the world has recently heard so much, the " Anglo-Saxon." 
It depends upon conditions clear, sufficient, and absolute, 
the observance or disregard of which will just as surely 
bring about its success or failure, as the observance or 
disregard of the laws of mechanism will eventuate in the 
success or the failure of any great piece of machinery — 
the clock, or the printing press, or the steam engine. We 
have all been cognizant of those terrible scenes of havoc 
which occur on the western rivers, and in an instant of 
time spread death and desolation all around. They are 
called variously "collapsing of flues," "bursting of boil- 
ers,", "breaking of steampipes," etc.; but no matter by 
what name they are known, they are just as clearly 
traceable to some neglect, in either the manufacturer, 
the inspector, or the engineer, of the laws of heat, 
expansion, resistance, as the rays of Kght that fill our 
streets when the night closes dark around us, are trace- 
able to the iron posts that stand by the kerbstones here 
and there, or as the aeriform fluid that becomes light at 
the points of the burners upon the top of those posts, is 
traceable to the gas manufactory that stands on the bank 
of the river. 



40 

So we have all been witnesses of the building of that 
massive structure in the central part of this city, which 
is known as The Cathedral. We saw the earth excavated 
to make place for its foundations. We saw the rocks 
quarried from the hillsides, and hauled down upon the 
plain, of which those foundations consist. Then we saw 
the large blocks of limestone, which were brought from 
the distance of sixty miles in the interior, put down upon 
the site of the building. And since then we have seen 
them laid, block by block, tier above tier, tDl the building 
has become the most striking piece of masomy in our 
city. Within the past season it sent up the lower part 
of its massive shaft; within the next we may hope to 
see the columns arise that are to give it comeliness and 
finish. But incomplete as it is, it has been a work of 
long toil. And there it stands, whether it shall finally 
be admired for its beauty, or condemned for its archi- 
tecture, a plain, sufficient, absolute e\idence of one 
thing: a strict observance of the square, the circle, the 
parallelogram, the octagon, of all the laws of Geometry, 
and, with them, of the laws of the mechanical powers. 
Had there been no such observance of those laws, the 
heavy oblong blocks of stone that now form its sides, and 
the symmetrical pillars that in part constitute its tower, 
instead of being where they are, would still lie in the 
quarry fi-om which they were taken. And had there 
been no such observance of the laws of geometry, the 
earth might have been excavated, and the stone placed 
upon the ground, and the long and hard toil that has 
been performed gone through with, and yet that building 
would not have gone up. A pile of stone and mortar 



41 

might have been erected, in which a Pagan would be 
willing to sacrifice to his visible idol, or his imaginary 
God; but not a structure that either Christian or Jew 
would dignify with the name of Temple, or consent to 
enter for the purpose of worship. 

So with the great experiment of Christian Man, which 
I believe is to be made here, chiefly, in the north-east- 
ernmost part of this Inland Valley. It is an experiment, 
controlled by laws as clear and absolute as those which 
govern the movements of the steam engine, or the 
erection of the Christian temple. And the condition of 
its success or failure, is the observance or the disregard 
of those laws. Chance wUl never operate the engine, 
though human ingenuity construct and adjust its diflerent 
parts ever so nicely. Chance will never erect the temple, 
though the materials for it be brought upon the ground, 
and human sinews be tasked to their utmost for countless 
years. So neither wiU chance conduct to great and 
glorious issues, the experiment here to be made — here 
now commenced. "Anglo-Saxonism," I admit, is the 
greatest of all the isms — and many of them I beheve to 
be great, sneered at though they may be, and are: but 
"Anglo-Saxonism" is only an element of success — an 
agent in the great work here to be achieved — and an 
element and agent, too, tei:rible under wrong direction, 
and almost as much to be dreaded as prized. Under 
control, it may become to this great experiment in Man- 
hood, what the well-regulated steam engine is to the 
steamboat: but left to itself, trusted in too much, it will 
as certainly lay the whole in ruins, as will the engine 
when the intelligence of man is withdrawn from its care. 



42 

"Manifest Destiny," also, is a great thing; the greatest 
of all the destinies, in that it shows itself, is ^'^ manifest,^'' 
while other destinies are hidden: but there are eternal 
truths that he beyond it, to which it must be made 
subordinate — which are its Hght, its guiding-stars, its 
conditions of success. Controlled by these, it inspires 
the soul of man, fortifies his heart, strengthens his arm — 
invigorates, exalts, fires his whole nature. But relied 
upon implicitly, as in itself conducting to mighty ends, 
it is a blind guide to the blind. Unchain it, and it will 
start off with a movement of unequaled majesty and 
strength. But soon the shadows gather upon its way, 
and close around it dark and dread. Still it moves on — 
but where? — where? 

Start the majestic locomotive on one of the great 
railways of the age — let it be perfect in all its parts, and 
endow it with the greatest motive power that is possible — 
withdraw the engineer when the sun goes down, that he 
may take his rest. With what majesty it moves ! "Man- 
ifest Destiny" has not superior grandeur. How mighty 
is its strength! "Anglo-Saxonism" even might cower at 
its approach. And see ! what momentum it gathers, as 
it passes away — away, beyond the sight! But the dusk 
is coming down — the black night now gathers over it — 
still on and on it moves, swifter and swifter, further and 
further, and all is well. But here is uneven land — the 
track diverges — a sudden curve presents itself, and the 
brakes are not manned! Majestically, mightily, wonder- 
fully, it winds around the base of that hill. There is no 
eye to see it, save its own; but thus it is done: done 
in that deep darkness, with none to du^ect — none to 



43 

control! And all is safe. What a triumpli of human 
genius and skill! Surely man is a god, thus to create 
and endow! But yonder, accident or design has placed 
an obstruction, and there is no one to sound the alarm. 
In an instant it is reached — and hark! There is a 
crash — a terrible leap of the huge monster — an explo- 
sion that shakes the earth, and wakes the echoes of the 
lone forest and the deep midnight! And now the hard 
hoofs of the mighty animal paw the startled ground — its 
iron horns gore the opposing bank — it rears, pitches, 
foams with rage — it heaves a last groan, falls over on its 
side, shivers, and is silent — a dread wreck, amid the 
darkness into which it had hastened alone, without 
guidance, without control. 

And this types, better than anything else of which I 
can conceive, that "Manifest Destiny" about which so 
much is heard, and in which so many profess faith, if it 
be not subjected to the moral laws that may govern it — 
if it be not steadily and carefully watched — if those 
whose business it is to use it for wise ends, to direct it to 
great issues, retire from their vigils, either when the sun 
is low or when it is high, that they may take their rest. 

And now — What, specifically, are the conditions of 
success with the great experiment in Humanity that is 
here to be made? To an intelligent view, they must be 
of a twofold nature — material, and moral. One of the 
first and most important of them, is entirely physical. 
It presupposes the existence of a territory of sufiicient 
extent for so gTand an experiment, having in and upon 
and under its soil, all that the physical wants of man 



44 

shall require, and being amply supplied with natural 
outlets, with avenues of interior commerce, and with all 
facilities for production, manufacture, and trade. Then 
the proper climatic influences must exist — and then a 
population must be present commensurate with the mag- 
nitude of an experiment so stupendous and so beaLitiful. 
After this, the condition is very simple. It is only that, 
to the great field of labor thus provided by the bounty 
of Providence, human intelhgence, industry, and skill, 
shall be perseveringly, wisely, and faithfully applied. 

As to the first point, the territory which I have 
marked out as the North-West, contains an area greater 
in extent, by nearly one hundred thousand square miles, 
than the combined area of the territories of all Italy, 
France, England, Belgium, and Holland. With an outlet 
to the Gulf of Mexico like the lower Mississippi — with 
a river like the upper Mississippi coursing through its 
western margin, entirely across fi'om its north to its south 
line — with a river like the Ohio winding along its south- 
ern margin from near its eastern to near its Avestern 
boundary — with sheets of water on its northern border 
like Lake Michigan and Lake Erie — and with an outlet 
to the Atlantic Ocean like the river and gulf of the St. 
Lawrence, it is unnecessary to expatiate about channels 
of commerce. They are here, and their superiors are not 
to be found in any similar extent of country in the 
world. And to any one who knows, as all of you do, 
how numerous are the smaller streams that course this 
territory in all directions, how rich the soil is through 
which they run, how exhaustless is the wood that clothes 
the land everywhere, and how far beyond computation are 



45 

the mineral treasures that lie just beneath the surface, 
equally unnecessary is it to undertake to show, that here 
are all the facilities for production, manufacture, and 
trade — all that the physical wants of man can require, 
though the hills and valleys of the North-West should 
become as thicMy peopled as were those of Judea Avhen 
the Saviour walked with his Disciples, and though it should 
take eighteen and a half centuries more to complete the 
grand cycle from the birth of Christ to the full and final 
establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven upon Earth. 

That the clunatic influences of this region are such as 
favor production, invite emigration and settlement, and 
promise a dense population, I think I showed so satisfac- 
torily in the early part of this discourse, as to render 
unnecessary any further argument upon that point. If 
the past be any criterion at all by which to judge of the 
future, or if climatic influences be only half that I claim 
for them, there can be no doubt whatever that this region 
is to possess the mimhers, to try that great experiment in 
Humanity which I think is here to be made. 

In Europe, Belgium has a population of three hundred 
and twenty-three persons to the square mile. Take this 
ratio, and apply it to the five hundred thousand square 
miles of which the North- West consists : and what popula- 
tion wiU that give for this region? One hundred and sixty- 
one milhons five hundred thousand, precisely! Or take 
the much lower ratio of France, which is one hundred 
and sixty-seven persons to the square mile, and what does 
that give as a future population for this region? Even 
that gives eighty-three millions five hundred thousand. 
But a fairer measure than either, of the capacity of the 



46 

North- West to sustain numbers, will be found by taldng 
the mean of Belgium, France, England, Holland, and 
Italy.* These several countries have an aggregate terri- 
torial superficies more than four fifths as large as that of 
the North- West, and present various points to justify the 
taking of the measure of their present population as that 
of our prospective population. The mean average num- 
ber of inhabitants to the square mile, in those five 
countries, is two hundred and fifty-two. Taking them thus 
together, no one will pretend that they have any natural 
qualities, by which they can sustain more persons to the 
square mile than can be sustained in the several states of 
our North- West, taldng these all together. Measuring the 
future population of this region, then, by the present popu- 
tion of those countries, what is it to be? One hundred 
and twenty-six millions! Nothing less. 

The great physical condition, then, upon wliich I have 
risked the success of the experiment, seems perfect. We 
have found the extent and character of territory required; 
we have found the food and clothing; we have found the 
materials and the means of manufacture, the channels of 
trade, the climatic influences; we have found all that the 
physical wants of man can require; and, finally, we have 
found the men. That they will neglect to apply, to this 
magnificent heritage, pcrseveringly, wisely, and faithfully, 
their best intelligence, industry, and skill, there is no 
reason to suppose. On the contrary, the physiological 
influences of the different currents of blood that run 
mingling in their veins, the incentives to exertion, the 
high rewards of toil, all the facts of their history, and all 



* See note G. 



47 

the circumstances that will surround them, go so directly 
to strengthen the probabilities that they will give the 
best energies of their nature to this great field of labor, 
as to carry those probabilities so near to a clear certainty, 
that no argument upon the point is needed. 

The moral conditions of success in the battle which 
man is here to wage against Selfishness, and Hate, and 
Passion — against all forms of arbitrary Power and all 
shapes of ingulphing Sin^ — are many. The chief of 
them, however, are so simple, so clear, so easily compre- 
hended, that he who runs may read and understand them. 
They are — Fidelity to convictions of Right; a faithful 
discharge of Duty in all the relations of life; Truth, 
Justice, Mercy, and Love. To observe these conditions, 
man has much, not to learn, but to unlearn. 

Ere he can act with fidelity to his convictions of 
right, he must forget the art of compromising, either with 
his conscience, his party, or his creed. That which, after 
he has used in its examination all the powers of his 
reason and all the feelings of his heart, stands up before 
him as the right, to him is right, no matter what it may 
be to another. If he suffers himself to be driven from 
it by his party, or his church, he is a coward ; if he seeks 
to please another, and to satisfy his own conscience, at 
the same time, by surrendering half and retaining half, 
he is untrue to all whom it may affect, and untrue to 
principle ; if he carelessly abandon it, he is worse still, for 
then he is false to himself, and false to his Maker who 
gave him instincts, and reason, and a fi'ee will, for use. 
He who is untrue to others, may be pitied for his 



48 

weakness or his sin; but for him who is untrue to 
himself who suffers his convictions to sleep, who aban- 
dons the right to its fate, there is no measure of 
contempt too great. 

The faithful discharge of Duty in the different rela- 
tions of life, viewed simply as a philosophical problem, 
would seem to be one of easy solution. Looked at in 
this way. Duty is merely the observance of certain 
obligations, some of which are assumed voluntarily by 
the individual, others of which are imposed by society 
for the general good, and acquiesced in by the individual 
because he finds it more convenient to discharge them 
than to disregard them. Those obligations which he 
assumes voluntarily, it is supposed, of course, he is 
prepared to discharge willingly: those that are imposed 
by society, and only acquiesced in by him, he is bound 
to discharge so long as he acquiesces, and no longer. In 
repudiating them, however, unless with the consent of 
the imposing power, it is incumbent upon him either to 
remove himself, voluntarily, beyond the society in Avhich 
they are discharged by others, or quietly to submit to 
the penalties declared for their nonobservance. Without 
this, there can be no peaceful and prosperous organization 
of society; and with this, society must concede to the 
individual the privilege of seeking redress, for the things 
which he esteems a grievance, in all lawful ways, even to 
the entire abrogation of the usages in which he has 
acquiesced. 

This view of Duty is simple, comprehensive, and 
clear. The discharge of the obligations of life, under it, 
is plain and easy, but attainable only by unlearning the 



49 

lessons of the nursery, the head-strong practices of youth, 
and the settled habits that now so commonly characterize 
mature years. What man voluntarily undertakes to do, 
he must be supposed to understand: what society requires 
him to do, it is bound to make plain. Here the excuse 
that springs from douht is taken away, and the obligations 
of life must either be promptly discharged, or openly 
disregarded. For anything like a contra-distinguishing 
description of the two classes of obligations, the volun- 
tary and the imposed, I have not now time ; nor have T, 
to present practical examples of the faithful discharge of 
the one, or of obedience or resistance to the other. 

Before the inculcations of Truth, the sense of Justice, 
the quality of Mercy, and the beauty of Love, can exert 
upon human character and social institutions their legit- 
imate influences, man has also much to unlearn. It is 
not from ignorance of the obligations which these impose, 
that falsehood, and oppression, and cruelty, and hate, 
blacken and embitter life — making solitary the ways that 
should be lighted by beaming eyes and lined with happy 
faces — bringing the discords of hell where should be 
heard only the angelic music of heaven echoing from 
human hearts; but from a too affluent knowledge — a 
knowledge of evil that has become a habit, a habit that 
has grown to be an overshadowing presence, a presence 
that chills, darkens, and excludes Truth, Justice, Mercy, 
and Love. 

It is not now, as it was in earlier and darker ages, 

when the knowledge of good came toymen tardily, and in 

uncertain gleams. Trath then had to struggle through 

the mists of error and superstition, and came in momen- 

4 



50 

tary flashes, now from this direction and anon from that, 
as the light of stars struggles down to earth when the 
sky is over-clouded, through the openings that are made 
for a moment, now in one part of the heavens and now 
in another. In the day in which the lot of the living is 
cast, there is poured upon the minds and hearts of men, 
from the sacred pages of the Book of God, one perpetual 
stream of Truth, as bright and constant as the flood of 
light which the sun pours upon the earth. And whfle, of 
old, the scattered rays of Light from the Eternal Source, 
were reflected dimly from a few objects, now the Encom- 
passing Glory is flashed every moment from millions of 
glittering points: for the printing press has taken the 
place of the priest, and the steamboat and the locomotive 
perform the old offices of the "beast of burden." It is 
not so much, then, the knowledge of good that is to be 
learned now, as it is the knowledge of evil that is to be 
unlearned. 

We, who contrast the steamship or the packet of our 
day with the "ship of Alexandria," in which the Apostle 
Paul "sailed slowly many days;" we, who compare the 
means of transportation now possessed with anything 
known to a previous age; we, who look in vain, in the 
past of all time, for that which may be presented as an 
equivalent for the locomotive, or the electric telegi'aph; 
we, who have the printing press, and contend that the 
ancient world, before the flood or after the flood, had no 
agent of civflization at aU comparable to this; we, who 
deny the sufficiency of the evidence which is often 
presented, in support of the claim that the lost arts of 



51 

past centuries at all equal in number or importance the 
arts now known and practiced; have an abiding faith, 
that all progress is not material progress. We see in 
the constant struggles of man for a truer freedom and a 
higher life, evidence of an indwelling power to achieve 
and enjoy them. We see in the gradual but certain 
spread of Gospel Truth, and the paling of the sacrificial 
fires of Paganism before its light, indications too strong 
to be resisted, that through the mission of Christ the 
nations of all the earth are yet to come to a knowledge 
of the True God. We see in the weak governments of 
Asia and the tottering thrones of Europe, "the beginning 
of the end" of countless ages of oppression. We see in 
the mighty stream of humanity that pours unceasing 
from the shores of the Old World to the shores of the 
New, evidences that here is to be made the next great 
advance in the political and spiritual freedom of man. 
And on this continent we behold such a continuous 
march toward the immediate region of country which we 
have had under view, as to indicate this as the chosen 
land of the new experiment — the brilliant center from 
which are to radiate the glorious beams of a truer 
civilization than has yet blessed the hopes of man. 

All this, my friends, may be called a delusion — 
beautiful and dazzling, but unsubstantial as a dream. 
Contemplating, with the full strength of my mind, the 
purposes of God in the creation of man — recollecting, as 
they have fallen upon my heart from the inspired volume, 
the promises of the Saviour — looking back along the 
course of authentic history, and scanning well its admitted 
truths, I see everything to strengthen my hope, and but 



52 

little to shake my faith. To reahze this great hope, 
however, those who possess it must tmst to no vaunted 
destiny — must lean on no pretensive ism. On the bright 
pages of revealed truth, in the thick tomes of written 
philosophy, beside the long, broad track of the world's 
history, nothing is more plainly written, than that man 
must depend upon himself His days are few, it is true, 
and his arm is feeble; but the Voice that spake to Moses 
from the burning bush, still echoes from the hills of 
Judea, where it spake again from a human form; and 
the Light that came out of Nazareth, and shone to all 
the world, is still with the sons of man — a greater guide 
than the pillar of cloud and the pUlar of fire. Men may 
turn from that Voice, to the flattering voice of destiny, 
and rush madly to ruin, even while they hsten; or they 
may avert their eyes from that calm, steady Light, and 
fix them upon the flaming ism that blazes for its day, 
and perish with it in the darkness that succeeds. Not 
so with those who listen to that Voice, and walk in the 
radiance of that Eternal Light — trusting, after this, each 
to the freedom of his own soul, the might of his own arm, 
and the power of his own will. 

Human ingenuity is fruitful in expedients to reform 
the world. One scheme seeks to do it by a sort of pohtico- 
physiological shding scale, which shall prevent people 
jfrom coming into the world faster than there is just so 
much food ready for them to eat, just so much clothing 
ready for them to wear, and just so much work ready for 
them to do — while another scheme expects to attain the 
same end, in part at least, by preventing people from 



53 

going out of the world, when they have forfeited the right 
to curse society longer with their presence and their 
crimes, through an abolition of the death penalty. A 
thkd scheme seeks to cure the evils of the world, by a 
new order of society, laid off with the precision of a geo- 
metrical showplate, by the aid of the mental rule and 
compass, into orders, spheres, harmonies, sections, and 
other divisions and subdivisions almost numberless — 
while a fourth Avould destroy ail society, by an abrogation 
of all government. A fifth scheme looks to an " organi- 
zation of labor," in opposition to combinations of capital, 
as the grand moral and social panacea — while a sixth 
would cure all ills- by a general division of property, 
brought about through the enactment into law of " a new 
and poHte method of robbing one's neighbors." 

In most of these schemes, now, as well as in others 
which modern philanthropy has suggested, I recognize a 
humane spirit, and a sincere desire to do good. There 
are few of them, indeed, which do not possess curative 
qualities. The leading difficulty with them is, it seems to 
me, first that they do not carefully enough calculate how 
much man has to unlearn of the past, before they can be 
adapted to his present condition ; and, second, that they 
attempt too much, and failing to accomplish what they 
have led the world to look for, bring themselves into irre- 
trievable discredit And then, as they are successively 
abandoned, for the time, or lingeringly die oat, a univer- 
sal hiss bursts from the livid and quivering lips of fast- 
anchored Conservatism, in the pauses of which can be 
distinguished the words "enthusiasts," "infidels," "dupes," 
•• madmen," and the like. 



54 

But a trae Progressive Spirit never quails before this 
uproar, as it never shrinks from the duty of trying again. 
It sees ignorance, and poverty, and suffering all around — 
it sees the able body and the willing soul struggling 
in a darkness and a sorrow that overwhelm both — it sees 
man a hard taskmaster, and his brother an unwilling ser- 
vant ; and these things it seeks to change. And change 
them it will, in the fullness of its time, and under the 
guidance of God, if man will only dare to be himself, — if he 
will only act truly from his own impulses — if he will only 
obey the dictates of his own heart and the suggestions of 
his own reason — if he will only have the firmness to stand 
alone, and tiie boldness to proclaim the right and the duty of 
isolation — if he will only assert and maintain that the Indi- 
vidual man, as such, is something more and something better 
than the absorbed member of a clique, a party, or a church. 

He must guard, however, against what is manifestly 
one of the weaknesses, and I fear one of the sins, of our 
day : the pride of being ranked as a Reformer. Names 
make not things, though things will make themselves 
names. He must guard, also, against the weakness of 
favoring every scheme of reform as a scheme of good. 
And, above all, he must close the avenues to his ears and 
his heart, against that puling ciy of philanthropy, which 
now spreads upon every breeze. Many a good word 
reaches us all, from the pulpit and the press, from the fo- 
rum and the legislative hall — many a good word for the 
masses of mankind. But with them all comes many " a 
poisonous distillment " — many an utterance which is but 
the breath of ambition, the coinage of selfishness. We 
must none of us forget that once "there was a day when 



55 

the sons of God came to present themselves before the 
Lord, and Satan came also among them." Nor must we 
cease for one moment to remember, that at another time, 
of the Twelve who sat at meat with the Saviour, one was 
Judas, " who also betrayed him." 

Of the want of that bold, distinct, individual charac- 
ter, which I insist man must attain before he can be true 
either to others or to himself, examples are afforded us 
every day, in the servility with which men suffer their 
minds to be shackled by their church, and their minds 
and bodies both to be yoked and driven about by their 
parties. Of the absence of a strong, controlling, practical 
character, in most of the schemes of reform brought before 
the world, examples abundant have been furnished, in the 
signal failures of those that have been tried in our own coun- 
try, as well as in Europe. Of the want of adaptation in 
these schemes, to the condition of things now existing, or 
the want of preparation of men for the application of the 
schemes, examples are afforded almost every day. Two 
presented themselves within the past winter here in our 
own North- West : one of them at St. Louis, where the 
ironmolders struck for higher Avages, and stood out ; the 
other at Pittsburgh, where the puddlers quit work because 
their employers, under what they thought a condition of 
absolute necessity, reduced their wages. In both cities, 
there were loud complaints about the tyranny of com- 
bined capital — the oppressions of the poor by the rich, 
etc., in all which there was doubtless much truth ; but 
what good did their everlasting talk about it do ? and 
their processions, resolutions, and disturbances ? The 
strikers^ especially in Pittsburgh, were long idle — their 



56 

families suffering, their blood getting up to fever heat, 
and they themselves becoming tyrannical, by interfering 
with those who were willing to work at the old wages 
until better could be obtained : yet they did not 
take the first step toward bettering their condition — to- 
ward escaping permanently from the "tjTanny of com- 
bined capital" of which they complained, or bracing 
themselves up manfully to resist the "oppression" from 
which they suffered. All was talk, parade, threat, and 
idleness, until, in Pittsburgh, other puddlers were brought 
from abroad, and employed, when the city became for 
several days the scene of most disgraceful riots, — women, 
the wives and mothers of the strikers, being more con- 
spicuous in them than men, — for the suppression of 
which its whole police force was found to be necessary.* 

Both of these cases, now, it seems to me, are provided 
for, had the men been prepared for its reception and 
application, by one of the schemes of reform to which I 
have referred: that which seeks to counterpoise the 
influence of combined capital in the social scale, by the 
power of combined intelligence and muscle. This scheme 
is called "The Organization of Labor;" and a test of its 
practical value is now maldng at the little town of Indus- 
try, on the northern bank of the Ohio river, twelve miles 
below Cincinnati, which I hope, and believe, is to meet 
with cntii'e success. Another test of its value, as appli- 
cable to a different branch of labor, is making in Boston; 
while in New York the journe}'men of several of the 
mechanical branches have recently combined their skill 

* See note H. 



57 

and industry against the capital and machinery of their 
late employers, and are now their own employers: pur- 
chasing the raw material, working it up, and selling the 
manufactured articles for their own profit, instead of 
selling their labor for the profit of others. This scheme 
of reform commends itself to all friends of the laboring 
masses, by its strong common sense, its practical method, 
and its easy applicability to a numerous class of indus- 
trial occupations. It has the vigor of a manly thought 
at its foundation, and must stand, if those who seek to 
avail themselves of its advantages continue time, each to 
himself and to his associates. 

This scheme for the "Organization of Labor," so far 
as I am informed, is the first practical Idea, among all 
the panaceas of modern prescription, that has yet clothed 
itself in the muscles and sinews of a healthy action. I 
bid it Godspeed! — for I have faith in its virtue. It is 
Saul among the embattling hosts of the Israel of Re- 
form — head and shoulders above any other scheme that 
has yet come to my knowledge, for promoting the inde- 
pendence and lessening the evds of the laboring masses. 
It gives a broad and solid basis for one substantial hope 
of a better day for the millions. 

But there are many such hopes. The most stubborn 
moral or political wheelhorse to be found in any church 
or any party in the land, will not abuse the evidence of 
his senses so much, as to deny the material progress of 
the world. And Material Progress can be nothing but 
the outward manifestation of an inward truth — the 
visible correspondence of Sphitual Progress. This it is, 
and nothing else : Just as Christ, in his beautiful nature 



58 

and his holy life, was the material correspondence of 
the spiritual Word: Just as the Universe, with all its 
magnificence, and might, and glory, is the visible corre- 
spondence of the invisible God. And material progress 
being thus spiritual progress, who can compare the Past 
and the Present, and be without a high and confident 
hope of the Future? 

On the Literature of this age alone, may such a hope 
be built. Never before was there a literature like this — 
so pervaded by the beautifid and the true — so informed 
of the inner life of man — so responsive to the harmonious 
chords of the eternal sphit. It is pre-eminently the 
Literature of Humanity — speaking to and from the 
common heart, as never spake the literature of a past 
age. Leaving fabled gods and goddesses to wage, as 
they list, thek wars of lust, and rapine, and revenge; 
leaving scarcely less fabled heroes to dare the strife of 
ocean and escape from the seductive wiles of imaginary 
Calypsos as they may; leaving adventurous bards and 
lecherous princes to shift for themselves, as best they 
can, among the awful shades and the circling fires of the 
Inferno ; it seeks its themes in the world about us, and 
carries to the doubting mind, the agonized heart, and the 
crushed spirit, the words of truth, and consolation, and 
hope. No home of man is so high or so low, but it will 
pass the threshold and deliver its message of good. It 
carries a light where before was darkness; and where was 
the barrenness of desolation, there it plants the flowers 
of peace and joy. The true man is assured by its les- 
sons, and the false man is goaded by its rebuking spirit 
until he purges himself of his sin. The strong man is 



69 

taught by it to extend his hand to his fallen brother, and 
the weak man rises nerved by its cheering tones, and 
goes forth with an assured heart and a firm step. 

But the whole earth is sick of the wrongs of the 
Past; and from every heart that sits in the shadow 
of a deep sorroAV, from every soul that is denied the 
light and the liberty that belong to it, from every 
nature that has in it one spark of the celestial fire of an 
angehc spirit, goes out a cry for change : and with this, 
from every battlefield where man pours out his blood for 
fi'eedom, from every assemblage in the broad world that is 
animated by a feeling of simple justice, firom every spot 
of earth where one individual being, be he a child of God 
or a child of the devil, turns his back upon old delusions, 
rends the shackles of hoar Authority, and proclaims 
himself a man, rises up a hope for the Future. In our 
own land only, however, is that mightier influence than 
the sword, that more potent agent even than the press, 
the Representative Principle, at work in its full propor- 
tions and its undisguised strength, for the good of 
mankind. And here only, where political institutions 
are a reflex of the people, and where, as the people 
become more and more enlightened, and more and more 
influential, that reflex character must become more and 
more perfect, can an intelligent and a reasonable hope be 
now indulged, of the Progress of Man. 

Changes in institutions are demanded; and changes 
must be had. Bui here, where constitutions and laws 
are but the spoken and recorded will of the people, such 
changes are not to be dreaded, as they may be in coun- 



60 

tries where the wreck of "the divine right of kings" has 
still left the people with masters, and where the overthrow 
of one of these only makes room for another, and per- 
haps worse. The Christian dispensation brought to man, 
anew, the elements of spiritual and political freedom, and 
promised him deliverance. Eighteen centuries rolled 
away, and in spite of long ages of superstition, and abused 
power, and galling wrong, those elements formed them- 
selves into that great instrumentality of fi*eedom of which 
I have spoken, the Representative Principle; and on a 
new continent, afar from the seats of old error, this great 
and only guaranty of Civil Liberty was given to man in 
its perfection. Here it is to perform its mission, and 
prepare the way for something higher and better still. 
Man may abuse it, as he has abused every "good and 
perfect gift," but God will preserve it nevertheless, till it 
work out the great problems for which it was given. 

But let us hope that he will not abuse it, and bring 
himself to shame. And here, in this beautiful land of 
the North- West, which has been given him for his inher- 
itance while that great principle was establishing itself in 
our political institutions and making itself plain to his 
moral perceptions, let us work that he may not abuse it. 
Let us labor to lay the foundations of institutions for the 
future, under which no man, of all over whom they may 
extend, shall suffer wrong at the hand of his brother. 
But to do this, we must lean our ears to the "still small 
voice" of God, and incline our hearts to the principles 
and practices of his Son. We must see and recognize 
clearly, the conditions upon which our work will prosper — 
the laws of its success — and observe them at all times, 



61 

and in all places. Neither "Anglo-Saxonism," nor any- 
other ism, wUl secure success without; neither "Manifest 
Destiny," nor any other destiny, will excuse or atone for 
disobedience. 

Why can the astronomer, surveying his field in the 
heavens, compute correctly the times and courses of the 
stars, and with unerriDg certainty, at any moment, point 
his instrument to the places of the constellations ? Be- 
cause they are governed by laws, which are Truth. In 
the same manner, if the high moral and physical laws 
which are Truth to the conscience and the intellect of 
man, at all times influence and govern his movements, 
can the political economist — the moral astronomer — 
compute the tim^s and courses of his progress, and with 
unerring certainty point to the bright constellations in 
his social heaven — Faith, Justice, Mercy, and Love. 

This is an age which, in an eminent degree, inculcates 
the Humanities of Life, and prosecutes inquiries touching 
the condition and prospects of man. Here and there, over 
the whole of Christendom, a clear voice ascends, filled with 
interest and hope for the masses of manldnd, which at 
once makes sorrowful and glad the hearts of those who 
hear: sorrowful that there should be on earth, where 
there is so much that is good and beautiful, such chilling 
selfishness as is witnessed, such cruel neglect, such bitter 
wrong; glad, that amid the degradation and suffering in 
which so many are overwhelmed, there are those, and not 
a few, who seek out the needy to help them, the weak to 
make them strong, the fallen to lift them up, and the sick, 
in body or in spirit, to administer healing and consola- 
tion : — sorrowful, again, that man has so parted from the 



62 

glory of his morning, as to find bewildering shadows and 
disheartening obstructions in his way ; glad, again, that 
notwithstanding all doubts and discouragements, all dread 
realities and all prophetic horrors, there are still hearts, 
and not a few, which hold firmly the faith that all this is 
not as the good God intended — that it will not thus re- 
main forever — but that the day is coming, and now 
dawns, in which fallen Humanity shall rise, and break 
through the shadows that now encompass it, and clothe 
itself again in the brightness of its morning glory. 

But here and there, with this, goes up a voice filled 
with discouragement. It can recall nothing of the past 
but what is dark, nor foretell anything of the future that 
is not dreary and hopeless. Visiting upon man the doom 
that was denounced against the Serpent, it exclaims, 
"Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat 
all the days of thy life!" It would take from the 
masses of mankind the hope which that better voice 
reldndled, and doom them to a night that has no star, 
and a sorrow that can see no end but in the grave. This 
voice, I seek not to follow into the "thick darkness and 
palpable inane" through which it sounds. Over the cold 
and barren deserts of life across Avhich it sweeps, I trace 
it not. In the narrow and chill recesses of the hearts 
into which it sinks and wakes an echo, I leave it to die- 
If it speak tmly of what is to be, in the near and the for 
future, dear as is Truth to my soul, I do not hesitate to 
say. Let my eyes be sealed to its light, and my ears be 
barred against its entrance, till hope shall be no more. 

Remembering the benign character of the Father of 
All — calling up, in imagination, the piUar of a cloud by 



day and of a fire by nighty with which he led his chosen 
people out of physical bondage and conducted them to 
the Land of Promise — bearing in mind that greater 
Messenger than the cloud by day and the fire by night, 
which He sent to lead, not the Jew only but also the 
Gentile, oat of a worse than Egyptian bondage, the 
bondage of the soul in the toils of sin and superstition — 
looking at the wonderful manner in which the light 
brought by that great INIessenger was preserved through 
long and ingidphing ages of moral darkness, to be again 
a guide to the nations of the earth — seeing, since then, 
thickly scattered all along the path of man's history, 
manifold evidences of Providential care and guidance — 
feeling the undying hope, for a higher and a truer Life, 
that has always dwelt in the human soul — knowing that 
the Lord God is merciful, and liveth forever, I do not 
despair of a better day for man. 

At all this, learned casuists may shake theu^ heads, 
and cry "dupe;" cold Conservatism may hug to its bony 
breast the inanimate body of gone ages, and sneer at 
"progress;" skeptics as to good in man may trace with 
long and skinny fingers the dark and devious tracks of 
the Past, and proclaim that in them are to be the courses 
of the Future: it is all one. When hope dies out 
utterly, but not till then, will faith in the progressive 
capabilities of man, and the progressive tendencies of 
events, cease and disappear. 

As comes the cloud over the parched land, and the 
rain from the cloud — as comes the green plant out of 
the earth, and the flower out of the plant — as comes 



G4 

the bird with the springtime, and the song with the 
bird — so, it is my faith, will yet come to man the full 
love of the Creator, and with it the Kingdom of Heaven 
upon Earth. 



The Corresponding Secretary Avas ordered to subscribe for 
Rufus's Antiquitates Americanei, and to procure any printed 
evidence of the existence of t\e city of Palenque in South 
America. 

In December, 1837, Hon. Timothy Walker delivered the 
annual address. Mr. Delafield presented a series of letters from 
the Hon. Jacob Burnet, detaihn;;- early scenes in the history of 
Ohio. 

The officers elected were the sime as for the preceding year. 

Part I, vol. 1, of the Transactions of the Society, was published 
in 1838, containing the act of incorporation and bylaws, list of 
officers for 1838, Tappan's address, James's address. Van Cleve's 
History of the Settlement of Dayton, and a brief description of 
Washington county, Ohio, by J. Delafield, Jr. 

Officers for 183&: 

Jacob Burnei, President. 
E. Lane, 

J. C. Wright, Vice Presidents. 
J. Delafield, Jr., Corresponding Secretary. 
P. B. Wilcox, Recording Secretary. 
J. B. Thompson, Treasurer. 
Curators, 
A. Nye, R. Thompson, 

J. RiDGWAV, Jr., J. SULLIVANT, 

J. W. Andrews. 

Vol. I, Part II, of "Transactions," was published in 1839, 
containing a series of letters relating to the early settlement of the 
North-West Territory, addressed to J. Delafield, Jr., by Jacob 
Burnet; Walker's address; a dii- course on the aborigines of the 
Ohio valley, by W. H. Harrison ; Perkins's address ; an essay on 
the origin and progress of political communities, by James T. 
Worthington; and a fragment of the early history of Ohio, by 
Arius Nye. 

6 



82 



The officers for 1 839 were : 

J. Burnet, President. 

E. Lane, 

J. C. Wright, Vice Presidents. 

W. D. Gallagher, Corresponding Secretary. 

P. B. Wilcox, Recording Secretary. 

J. B. Thompson, Treasurer. 
Curators, 
J. RiDGWAY, R. Thompson, 

J. W. Andrews, Arius Nye, 

J. SULLIVANT. 

For 1840: 

J. Burnet, President. 
E. Lane, 

T. L. Hamer, Vice Presidents. 
J. L. Miner, Corresponding Secretary. 
J. W. Anrdews, Recording Secretary. 
J. B. Thompson, Treasurer. 
Curators, 
J. RiDGWAY, R. Thompson, 

J. W. Andrews, Arius Nye, 

Wm. Wall. 

For 1841 : 

J. C. Wright, President. 

E. Lane, 

T. L. Hamer, Vice Presidents. 

Alfred Kelly, Corresponding Secretary. 

J. RiDGWAY, Recording Secretary. 

J. B. Thompson, Trea.surer. 
Curators, 
R. Thompson, Arius Nye, 

Jos. Sullivant, " S. Nash, 

J. RiDGWAY, Jr. 

A resolution was passed, soliciting the formation of local 
historical societies throughout the state, for the collection of facts 
relative to the civil and natural history of their districts. 



83 

Charles Whittlesey delivered an address, relating to the 
expedition of Lord Duimore, of Virginia, against the Indian 
towns on the Scioto, in 1'774. 

The next meeting ■« as held in December, 1 844, when the 
following gentlemen were elected ofl&cers for the ensuing year : 
J. BuuNET, President. 
J. C, Wright, 

E. Laxe, Vice Presidents. 

J. SuLLivANT, Corresponding Secretary. 
J. RiDGWAY, Jr., Recording Secretary. 
J. B. Thompson, Treasurer. 
Curators, 

J. SULLIVANT, J. RiDGWAY, Jr., 

R. Thompson, Arius Nye, 

Simeon Nash. 
The next annual meeting was held in December, 1848, and 
adjourned the business to be transacted, to a meeting to be held 
in the city of Cincinnati, in February, 1849. The members of 
the Cincinnati Historical Society were then elected members ; a 
donation of all the property of the Cincinnati Historical Society 
was accepted. 

The election of officers, for the year 1849, was held March 
20th, and the following gentlemen were elected : 

William D. Gallagher, President. 
James H. Perkins, 
Edward D. Mansfield, 
Charles Whittlesey, Vice Presidents. 
Robert Buchanan, Treasurer. 
And. Randall, Corresponding Secretary. 
Samuel B. Munson, Recording Secretary. 
G. Williams Kendall, Librarian. 
General Curators, 
John C. Wright, David K. Este, 

John P. Foote, Edwin R. Campbell, 

Restore C. Carter. 
The library is now of respectable size, and contains much 
very rare and valuable historical material, consisting of books, 



hi 

maps, charts, sketches, etc. The " publications " of the Society, 
for 1849, consist of Hildreth's Pioneer History; for 1860, Hil- 
dreth's Biographical Sketches, and such others as may be ordered 
by the Society. 

Early in 1850 the Constitution of the Society was modified, 
receiving the form it bears at t'le opening of the Appendix, and 
the following gentlemen were eh cted officers : 

Pretident, 
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER. 

Vice Presidents, 
THOMAS M. KEY, E. D. MANSFIELD. 

Recording Secretary, 

EDWIN R. CAMPBELL. 

Corresponding Secretary, 

A. RANDALL. 

Treasurer, 

ROBERT BUCHANAN. 

Librarian, 
G. W. KENDALL. 

Curators, 
Hamilton county, J. G. Anthony, Charles Cist, Geo. T. Wil- 
liamson, S. B. MuNsoN, Geo. Mendenhall. 
Erie " Ebenezer Lane. 

Cuyahoga " Chas. Whittlesey, J. P. Kirtland. 
Franklin " S. Medary. 
JeflFerson " Benjamin Tappan. 
Ross " Seneca W. Ely. 

Fairfield " Wm. Medill. 
Washington " S. P. Hildreth. 
Butler " James M'Bride. 

Champaign " John H. James. 

The sixty-second anniversary of the first settlement of Ohio (by 
the Ohio Company, at Marietta, April 7, 1788), was commemo- 
rated by the Society, at the Historical Rooms in Cincinnati, on the 
8th of April, 1850 — the 7th occurring this year on Sunday. 



85 

The President's Discourse, herewith pubUshed, was dehvered on 
that occasion. 

According to a determination then come to, the Historical and 
Philosophical Society of Ohio will hereafter commemorate the First 
Settlement of the State, every year, by appropriate ceremonies, and 
social festivities. 

Under its present organization, much is expected from this 
Society, in the hitherto much-neglected field of western history. 
Hope we, then, that it may present to all, in its truth and beauty, 
the historic field now before it. May it ever be foremost in the 
glorious task of establishing the memory of those high, noble, 
moral principles, which actuated the men of the creation-morn of 
our republic ; and may success crown its purpose "to gather from 
still Hving witnesses, and preserve for the future annalist, the 
important records of the teeming and romantic Past — to seize, 
while yet warm and glowing, and inscribe upon the page which 
shall be sought hereafter, the bright visions of song, and fair 
images of story, that gild the gloom and lighten the sorrows of 
the ever-fleeting Present — to search all history with a steady 
eye, sound all philosophy with a careful hand, question all expe- 
rience with a fearless tongue, and thence draw lessons to fit us 
for, and light to guide us through, the shadowed, but unknown 
Future." 



WOMS PUBLISHED BY H. W. DERBY & CO. 

PIONEER HISTORY. 

Being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio Valley, 

and the early settlement of the North-West Territory. By S. 

P. HiLDRETH. Cincinnati : H. W. Derby & Co. New York : 

A. S. Barnes & Co. 

Some account of tliis volume, and of one which is to follow, may he found in the 
Appendix to Mr. Gallagher's Historical Discourse. It is an exceedingly interesting 
narrative of the First Settlement of the now great State of Ohio, and of occurrences 
preceding and following that event : the materials of the work being almost wholly 
original, comprising the papers of Colonel George Morgan ; those of Judge Barker ; 
the diaries of Joseph Buel and John Mathews ; the records of the Ohio Company, 
etc. It was a fortunate thing that these materials fell into the hands of the 
venerable Dr. Hildreth, who was peculiarly qualified, by a residence of more than 
forty years among the scenes and men described, and by an enthusiastic love of 
historical pursuits, for the task of arranging and combining them with other but 
cognate matter. He has produced an original work of great interest now, and of 
highest value to those who shall hereafter write the history of Ohio, and of the 
Wtst : for his facts are authentic, and may be relied upon in every respect. The 
volume is a handsome octavo, of 525 pages, well supplied with lithographic plates, 
to illustrate the text, and increase its interest. 

From the Cincinnati Gazette. 

. . . The volume is one of great interest, and has been gotten out in a style 
at once beautiful and substantial. The work has thus original historical value, such 
as wUl, doubtless, cause it to be sought after with avidity. Its perusal will be 
attended with intense interest, for its plain, eventful, authentic account of the 
pioneer history of the west. 

From the Louisville Courier. 
]\Ir. HUdrcth enjoys an extensive rep\itation throughout the west, as a 
close and patient observer, and is not less known for his accuracy. In all things 
relating to the early history of the west, he is known to be one of the most zealous 
of men in the collection and preservation of everything that can illustrate the early 
day of settlement, and one of the most honest in recording these interesting pieces of 
information. The chapter " On the Early and Present Climate of Ohio, with the 
Natural Productions of the Country," is one of much interest, and one that could 
scarcely have been written by any man in the west but Mr. Hildreth. 

BURNET'S NOTES. 

Notes on the Early Settlement of the North-Western Territory. 
By Jacob Burnet, of Cincinnati. One vol. 8vo. Price $2.50. 

This volume will be welcomed by a lai-ge class of readers, as a valuable addition 
to the historical literature of our country. The author is one among the few 
eminent men now living, who are left to record the events of the past sixty years in 
the rapid growth of the west. We subjoin extracts from a few, out of many 
testimonials which have been received respecting the merits of the work : 
From the Louisville Journal. 

. . . We regard this work as one of the most important contributions yet 
made to the historical department of western literature. Persons wishing to inform 



88 

themselves of the great events that have marked the progress of the north-western 
territory, will nowhere find a work so well adapted to that end. It ought to find a 
place in every family, and will, doubtless, have a circulation commensurate with its 
uncommon interest and merits. 

From the New York Tribune. 
This fine work, just issued from the press, is needed, and will be extremely useful 
both in u historical and. we may say. a biographical sense — giving as it does, so 
much insight into the institutions, character, and causes of the degeneracy of the 
North-Western Indians — while it is valuable and interesting in its relation of those 
revolutionary events in which all the Indian tribes figured more or less conspic- 
uously. The author of this work has, undoubtedly, executed his task faithfully, as 
we are certain he has entertainingly. 

THE NATTJEE AND TENDENCY OF FREE INSTITUTIONS. 

By Judge Grimke. 

From the Western Literary Emporium. 
This work will rank among the very best treatises on the science of government, 
and will do honor to the author and to the state of Ohio. Judge Grimke has taken 
up the subject in the spirit of true philosophical investigation, and has triumphantly 
met, as far as we have been able to read his work, the stale and standing objections 
of monarchists against republican institutions. His work will be read by all who 
wish to get at the true merits of the subjects he discusses. The style is simple, the 
argument close and clear, but often too deep for the popular mind — a quality which 
the sound politician will not regret, as it carries him into fields of thought which 
have the freshness of a virgin soU, and gives him a confidence in American institu- 
tions which the superficial observer can not enjoy. We believe that God gave to 
his ancient people the free forms of government, because they were best for the 
nation ; and we fully believe that mankind must come back to republican simplicity 
and economy, before the nations can be truly prosperous and happy. We believe 
that the great men of Europe will read the work of Judge Gi-imke with a degree of 
respect for American institutions that they never have felt before. We confess that 
fears which we have long entertained, in regard to the success of the American 
experiment, are much diminished, and our hopes and confidence very greatly 
increased, by a careful study of the essential principles of freedom. W^e shall read 
the work now b fore the public with careful attention, and may give our views of it 
more at large, at a future time. 

THE WEST; ITS COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION. 

By James Hall. 

From the Marietta, O., Intelligencer. 

This is a highly-interesting and instructive work, embodying a greater amount of 
valuable statistical information upon the subject of which it treats, than any work 
we have ever seen. No man in the countiy is more intimately acquainted with the 
history, increase, and present importance of western commerce and navigation, than 
Mr. Hall. And his work not only contaius much important information respecting 
the resources of the west, but it demonstrates the necessity of govei'nmental aid and 
supervision in the prosecution of improvements, and the protection of internal 
commerce. Its author feels a just pride in the remarkable growth and prosperity 
of the Queen City, and labors with commendable zeal to show that many of its 
advantages are greater, and its elements of prosperity more numerous, than any 
other western city poss^ses. 

From the Dayton Journal. 

. . . Judge Hall ha=, in his work before us, embodied many facts and statistics 
which should be general y known. He imparts an interest to the subject, by the 
manner in which it is treated, that divests it of the dryness people are apt to 
consider necessarily attached to the discussion of such matter. 



XOTES. 



A. PAGE 13. 

The terj'itorial extent of each of the eight states of the North-West, with that 

of Minnesota, as appears b^^ the latest Report from the General Land Office at 

Washington, is as follows : 

Square miles. 

Kentucky — admitted in 1792, 37.680 

Ohio — admitted in 1802, - - 39.964 

Indiana — admitted in 1816, 33,809 

Illinois — admitted in 1818, 55.405 

Missouri — admitted in 1820, - - - - 67.380 

Michigan — admitted in 1837, 56243 

Iowa — admitted in 1846, 50 944 

Wisconsin — admitted in 1848, 53924 

MinnesotaTerritory — erected in 1849, .......... 83,000 

Strip of Western Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, say .... 21,651 

Total, - 500,000 

The strip of Western Virginia and Western Pennsylvania here referred to, comprises 
nine counties of the former state, and thirteen counties of the latter. — See "Letters 
about The West, from a Citizen of Ohio," in National Era of June 14 and July 
16, 1849. 

B. PAGE 16. 

A few facts will exhibit, as well as a volume, the wonderful growth of Western 
Trade and Commerce. Previous to the year 1800, some eight or ten keelboats, of 
twenty to twenty-five tons each, performed all the carrying trade between Cincin- 
nati and Pittsburg. In 1802, the first government vessel appeared on Lake Erie. 
In 1811, the first steamboat (the Orleans) was launched at Pittsburg. Previous to 
1817, about twenty barges, averaging one hundred tons burden, comprised all the 
facilities for commercial transportation between New Orleans and the country on 
the Ohio river as high up as Louisville and Cincinnati. Each of these boats made 
one trip, down and back, between those two places and New Orleans, each year. 
On the upper Ohio, from the Falls to Pittsburg, some one hundred and fifty 
keelboats were employed about 1815 — '17. The average size of these was thiiiy 
tons, and they occupied from six to seven weeks in making the voyage both ways. 
In the year 1818, the first steamboat (the TFalk-in-f/ie-lFaler) was built on Lake 
Erie. In 1819, this boat appeared in trips on Lake Huron. In 1826, the waters 
of Michigan were first plowed by the keel of a- steamboat, a pleasure trip to Green 
Bay being planned and executed in the summer of this year. In 1832, a steamboat 
first appeai'ed at Chicago. In 1833, nearly the entire trade of the T'ppcr Lakes — 
Erie, Huron, and Michigan — was carried on by eleven small steamboats. — So 
much for the beginning. 

5 



66 

In the year 1845, there were upon tlie Upper Lakes sixty vessels, including 
propellers, moved by steam, and three hundred and twenty sailing vessels — the 
former measuring twenty-three thousand tons in the aggregate, and some of the 
latter carrying one thousand to twelve hundred tons each. In 1846, according 
to official statements exhibiting "the consolidated returns of both exports and 
imports," the moneyed value of the commerce of the harbors of Erie was 
$94,358 350; on Michigan, that of Chicago was $3,927,150: total, $98,285 500. 
One half of this, it is supposed, would be a fair average of the net moneyed value of 
the commerce of these lakes for 1846, which gives $49,142,750. The average 
annual increase, for the five years previous, is shown by the same official documents 
to have been nearly eighteen per cent. Supposing it to liave been but ten 
per cent, per annum for the four years since, will give $68,799,850 as the 
present net money value of the commerce of Erie and Michigan. In the year 
1834, the number of steamboats on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, and their 
tributaries, was ascertained to be two hundred and thirty, with an aggregate 
carrying capacity equal to thirty-nine thousand tons. In 1842, the number of 
boats had increased to about four hundred and fifty, and their tonnage to upward 
of one hundred thousand tons. At the present time, the entire number of 
steamboats running on the Mississippi and Ohio, and their tributaries, is more 
probably over than under six hundred, the aggregate tonnage of which is not short 
of one hundred and forty thousand tons : a larger number of steamboats than 
England can claim, and a greater steam commercial marine than that employed 
by Great Britain and her dependencies. (See Congressional Keports, Hall's 
Statistics, McCuUough's Gazetteer, etc.) In 1846, Colonel Abert, from reliable 
data, estimated the net value of the trade of the western rivers at $183,609,725 
per year; in 1848, Judge Hall stated it at $220,000,000, in his Statistics; and 
while this pamphlet is passing through the press, the United States Senate have 
ordered a document to be printed, which estimates it at $256 233,820, for the 
year 1849 ! The same document puts the aggregate value of the vessels employed 
in this commerce, at $18,661,500. 

C. PAGE 18. 

The national census soon to be taken, will probably show that the aggregate 
number of inhabitants within the boundaries of the region denominated The 
North-West, is nearer eight than seven millions, at this time. The last two 
previous enumerations, with the well-known rate of increase of this region, warrant 
this conclusion. The following tabular statement, indeed, shows that any other 
conclusion is almost impossible : 

Population of the five North-Western states and Michigan Territory, 
in 1830, - - - ' 2 298,390 

Of the fractions of Western Virginia and Western Pennsylvania re- 
ferred to, .--.... 360,081 

Total population of the North-West in 1830, 2,658,471 



67 

Popiilation of the six North -Western states and two territories in 1840, 4 131,370 

Increase for ten years, 80 per cent. 3,305,096 

Population of the fractions of Western Virginia and Western Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1840, 484,113 

Increase for ten years, 333>^ per cent. 161,371 

Total population of the North-West, in 1850, 8,081,950 



D. PAGE 21. 
The following statement shows the separate, as well as the aggregate, areas 
of the states of the two sections, with the population of each at the two periods 
named : 

AREA SOUTH. 

Sq. miles. Pop. 1800. Pop. 1840. 

North Carolina, 45.500 478.103 753.419 

South Carolina, 28,000 345.591 594,398 

Georgia, 58,000 162,101 691.392 

Totals, 131,500 985,795 2,039,209 

Aggregate population in the year 1800, 985,795 ; or nearly 7)2 to the sq[uare mile. 
Increase in forty years, 1,053,414; or nearly 107 per cent, 

AREA NORTH. 

Sg. miles. Pop. 1800. Pop. 1840. 

Connecticut, 4,750 251002 309.978 

Massachusetts, ..--.-.- 7.252 423,245 737.699 

Vermont, 8,000 154 465 291.948 

New York, 46 000 586.756 2.428,921 

Pennsylvania, - - 47,000 602,365 1.724,0.33 

New Jersey, 6,851 211949 373.306 

Maryland, 11,000 341 548 470,019 

Totals, 130,853 2,571,330 6,335,904 

Aggregate population in the year 1800,2,571,330; or 193o to the square mile. 
Increase in forty years, 3,764,574; or 146 per cent. 



E. PAGE 22. 

This quantity is obtained in the following manner : South of the parallel 
thirty-six degrees thirty minutes lie the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas — 
ten in all, embracing a superficial area of 755,310 square miles. North of it lie 
the remaining twenty states, containing a superficial area of 635,348 square miles. 
But since this report was published, has been erected the territory of Minnesota, 
with a superficial area of 83,000 square miles. This belongs to, and swells the 
extent of, the northern division. One sixth of the territory set down as belonging 
to Texas — say 54,253 square miles, lying between the Arkansas and the Canadian 



68 

rivers — may, without auy violence, be wrested from that connection. This taken, 
diminishes the extent of the southern division. Now, by adding Minnesota to the 
aggregate as set forth in the Land Office Report, and deducting one sixth of Texas 
therefrom, we have, as the entire extent of organized territory in the United States, 
1,419,405 square miles : of which 701,057 is the proportion of the southern 
division, and 718,348 that of the northern division. Arranged in tabular form, 
that they may strike the eye at a glance, these quantities present themselves as 
follows : 

Aggregate territory, in square miles, 1,419,405 

Northern division, ............... 718,348 

Southern division, 701,057 

One half of the aggregate territory, 709,702 

Northern division more than half, 8.646 

Southern division less than half, 8,645 



F. p.vGE 25. 

Of the immense public domain of the United States remaining unsold and 

unappropriated on the 1st of January, 1847, 245,913,343 acres lay within the 

limits of twelve of the organized states. These states are all west of the fourth 

parallel of longitude west from Washington City, seven of them being north of 

thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, and five south of that line. The following table 

shows in the first column of figures the complete areas of these states, in the second 

column the amount of the public lands unsold in each, and in the third the quantity 

located on bounty land warrants to the 1st of January, 1849, under the act of 

February 11, 1847 : 

Complete area. Public lands. , ,. ^ 

'^ locations. 

Ohio, 25,576 960 807 556 49,429 

Indiana, ------. 21,637,760 3271,7.30 189540 

Illinois, 35.459 200 14 998.937 683,700 

Missouri, 43.123 200 29 436 942 207 200 

Michigan, 35 995 520 25.057.704 29 920 

Wisconsin, 34 511.360 27,431,029 736,080 

Iowa, 32,584 960 28,368,436 462 360 

Northern division, 228 888,960 129,372,334 2 358 229 

Alabama, 32 462.080 17 450 560 19 160 

Mississippi, ....--. .30174080 14326430 16840 

Louisiana, 29,715,840 23 462,018 76,720 

Arkansas, 33,406,720 27,464 603 62 400 

Florida, 37,931520 33,837.392 SO 

Southern division, 163.690 240 116,541.000 175 200 

Totals, ....... 392,579200 245,913,343 2533,429 

From January 1 to October 1, 1849 — nine months — an aggregate of 2 491,971 
additional acres was located; but I have not at hand the means of determining the 



09 

relative proportions in the two sectional divisions. This makes a total of locations, 
ou military laud warrants issued since the Mexican war, amounting to 5,025,400 
acres — from eight to nine tenths of which, it is fair to assume from the foregoing 
data, has been selected in the North-West. 

F. PAGE 37. 

A forcible illustration of the truth of this remark, is afforded by the liistories of 
administrative measures under our National Government, and many of our State 
Governments. I need do nothing more than refer to the questions of the Tariff, 
Internal Improvements, and a United States Bank, to give an idea of how much has 
been lost to national prosperity, dignity, and quiet, and gained to partisan bitterness 
and demagogical cant, by the changing predominance of parties, which for so long a 
period in our history prevented either of these great measures of policy from 
remaining settled long enough to vindicate its claims to general respect and 
confidence, or to show that it was neither promotive of the welfare of the people, 
nor necessary to our national development. A United States Bank has been 
declared by high authority, and, indeed, now is, "an obsolete idea;" but the 
question of extending governmental aid to objects of internal improvement, is yet 
an open one ; and the policy of protecting against European competition, and thus 
promoting objects of domestic industry, after having been discussed every year 
for nearly a half century, in the national congress, in the state legislatures, in 
popular meetings, in books, addresses, reports, and newspapers, seems now further 
from being settled than it was twenty-five years ago. So of other great national 
measures, which it is not necessary to specify. 

In Ohio, the policy of permitting local banks to issue a paper currency has 
agitated the entire people of the state for a quarter of a century, and is yet 
undetermined. Advocacy of chartered banks and a small note circulation, on 
one side, and opposition to one, or both, on the other, have for a period of ten or 
twelve years, at least, constituted the chief, and at periods the only, munitions of 
party warfare. At one election, one of the two great parties has succeeded in 
obtaining a majority in the legislature ; at the next election, or the election 
following that, the other has secured a majority; so that the two party cries, 
"Down with the banks!" "Up with the banks!" have triumphed ou nearly 
alternate years, keeping up an almost unceasing excitement and uncertainty, and 
producing continual changes in the legislation of the state upon this subject. It 
is assuming little to say, that had the policy of a small note currency been definitely 
settled, for any period of ten years, and the mouths of both "hard" and "soft" 
demagogues been thus closed for that length of time, banks of circulation would 
either have effectually "used themselves up" in public estimation, or the policy 
of a paper currency, and the insufficiency of a specie currency, have become so 
fully apparent to the people, as to make a fiual settlement of this question. As 
things have happened, however, one party has regularly succeeded to power, just 
in time to prevent the other from cutting its throat with this "bank question;" 
and at the present time the policy of the state, in this particular, is quite as 



70 

uncertain as it has been at almost any previous period. No scheme that has been 
established, has been permitted to remain undisturbed long enough either to show 
its worthlessness, or vindicate its claims to common regard. 

G. PAGE 46. 

The separate and united extent and populations of the several countries named, 
according to the latest statements at hand, are as follows : 

Square miles. Population, 

Belgium, 13,000 4 200 000 

France, 205,000 34 200 000 

England, 51.500 15 119.178 

HoUand, 11.000 3,000,000 

Italy, 122000 23,890,000 



Totals, 402,500 80,409,178 

H. PAGE 56. 

While this discourse is running through the press, I learn that the Pittsburg 
"strikers" have gone resolutely and systematically to work, to do good for 
themselves, their families, and others. About one hundred of them have now 
combined against their former employers, in the only legitimate and manly way. 
These, it is stated, have organized themselves into a partnership, and commenced 
the erection of an extensive iron manufactory in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on 
the Erie Extension Canal, about fifty miles from Beaver — an excellent location, 
where aU raw materials are easily accessible. 



APPENDIX. 



CONSTITUTION. 

Article 1. This Society shall be known as the "Historical 
and Philosophical Society of Ohio," and its primary object shall 
be, research in every department of local history ; the collection, 
preservation, and diffusion of whatever may relate to the History, 
Biography, Literature, Philosophy, and Antiquities of America — 
more especially of the State of Ohio, of the West, and of the 
United States. 

Art. 2. The Society shall consist of corporate, corresponding, 
and honorary members. Corporate members must be residents of 
the State of Ohio, and shall alone be eligible to vote, and act as 
ofl&cers of the Society : corresponding members may reside either 
in Ohio, or neighboring states ; and, as representatives, shall be 
entitled to a seat in its meetings, and to participate in its delibera- 
tions, but not to vote, or hold office: honorary members — of 
whom not more than twelve shall be elected in any one year — 
may be persons eminent for historical, literary, or scientific attain- 
ments, in any part of the world, and shall, ex officio, be entitled to 
all the rights and privileges of corresponding members. 

Art. 3. The officers of this Society shall be, a President, two 
Vice Presidents, Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, 
Treasurer, Librarian, and fifteen Curators, all of whom shall be 
chosen annually by ballot, and shall hold office for the term of 
one year, or until their successors shall have been chosen. 
They shall severally perform the duties appertaining to their 
respective offices, and together, constitute an Executive Board, 
which shall meet at least once in each month for the transaction 
of business — shall have power to enact bylaws, appropriate 



72 

funds, receive donations, and shall be charged with the financial 
management and general conduct of the affairs of the Society. 

Art. 4. Candidates for membership, either as corporate, cor- 
responding, or honorary, must be proposed by a member of the 
Society, at a regular meeting ; the name entered upon the Minutes, 
and referred for one month to the Executive Board, unless other- 
wise ordered by the unanimous consent of the members present. 
Election in all cases by ballot ; three negatives excluding. 

Art. 5. Each corporate member, on subscribing to the Consti- 
tution, shall pay an initiation fee of one dollar; and on or 
before i\\e first Monday of December in each year, as annual dues, 
the sum of two dollars, invariably in advance, so long as he shall 
continue a member : provided that the payment of tiuenty dollars, 
at any one time after election, shall constitute a member for life, 
and that of fifty dollars, at any one time after election, a perpetual 
membership, transferrable on the books of the Society ; such 
members retaining the right to vote and hold office, unless for- 
feited by removal from the State of Ohio, in which case they 
shall be enrolled and act as corresponding members. 

Art. 6. There shall be an annual meeting of the Society on 
the first Monday of December, for the election of officers for the 
ensuing year, the reception of annual reports, and the transaction 
of such other business as may be duly presented ; thereafter there 
shall be such meetings of the Society as the Executive Board may 
in each year establish. The annual meeting shall adjourn over to 
the call of the President, which adjourned meeting shall be held 
within a current month in the city of Columbus, the annual report 
of the Executive Board again read, and a copy of the same 
subsequently inclosed to the speakers, respectively, of the Senate 
and House of Representatives : at the same time and place, an 
annual address shall be delivered by the President, or such 
alternate as may have been appointed by the Executive Board, 
which address may be repeated, by appointment, in the city of 
Cincinnati. 

Art. 7. The library, cabinet, and all other collections of the 
Society, shall be permanently located in the city of Cincinnati, 
subject to such regulations as the Executive Board may, from 
time to time, ordain and establish. 



Art. 8. There shall be no alteration in this Constitution, 
unless the proposed amendments shall have been submitted in 
writing to the Executive Board, at least one month before an 
annual meeting, notice thereof given in one or more daily papers 
of Cincinnati and of the cities of Columbus and Cleveland, and 
then approved and ratified by the vote of three fourths of the 
members present at the next succeeding annual meeting of the 
Society. 



REPORT 

OF THE 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OHIO, 

FOR 1849. 

The Committee appointed by the Historical and Philosophical 
Society of Ohio, to report upon the action of the Society during 
the past year, its present condition, and prospects, beg leave to 
submit the following : 

About the commencement of the year 1849, the Society, with 
its books and archives, was removed from Columbus to Cincinnati, 
in order to form a union Avith the Historical Society of Cincinnati, 
which would prove materially advantageous, and advance the 
design and objects of both. The two associations were united. 
An accession to the library of about four hundred volumes was 
thereby attained, about two hundred of which are rare works, and 
of considerable historic value. As the pecuniary resources of the 
Society are limited in extent, few additions to the stock of books 
can be made by purchase ; the collection has, consequently, been 
made up principally by donations. 

Nearly one hundred volumes have been received during the 
past year, among which we may mention : Ancient Monuments 
of the Mississippi Valley, Vol. 1, Smithsonian Contributions to 
Knowledge, from the Smithsonian Institute; four volumes Anti- 
quitates Americanae, from the Society of Northern Antiquaries, 
Stockholm, and seven volumes of their Transactions ; Bertramis's 
Pilgrimage in Europe and America, leading to the discovery of 



74 

the sources of the Mississippi and Bloody rivers ; History of the 
Jesuit Missions in the Mississippi Valley ; twenty-nine volumes 
Executive and Congressional Documents, from the State Depart- 
ment at Washington, transportation free ; with numerous other 
valuable contributions. Your Committee regret to state, that, 
while they have these evidences of liberality from various sources, 
the objects and efforts of the Society are not so fully and 
thoroughly appreciated by the public at large as they certainly 
deserve to be. It is a matter of deep and lasting regret, that our 
early local history should be regarded with so great indifference 
by many of our citizens, while such a great degree of interest 
is taken by the people of other states with a far less eventful 
history, in similar institutions, for the support and advancement 
of which ample provision is also made, in many cases by the 
state government direct. 

The history of our State, and of that hardy and adventurous 
band who first broke the stillness of her forests, and planted the 
standard of Freedom and Civilization on her soil, is full of romantic 
interest, without a parallel in the history of mankind. Much that 
is valuable of this character is fast passing away — becoming 
extinct and extinguished — much of it remaining in the form of 
oral tradition, and too often dying with the subject himself, who 
is ever as modest as he has been adventurous and brave. Even 
of that sagacious, trusty, and faithful assemblage of "good men 
and true" who formed the Constitution of the State, which has 
gone far beyond their most sanguine anticipations, and outgrown 
the original dress prescribed by rigid rule and cautious "metes 
and bounds," but few remain to rejoice in the increased strength 
of the young giant of the West whose infancy they nurtured. 
Although, fortunately for history, many have had justice done 
them by able pens, much of deep and lasting interest in relation 
to that body, as Avell as other pioneer bands, remains unwritten, 
and unpreserved in any tangible form. 

A volume of "Pioneer History," embracing much interesting 
matter of the nature alluded to, has been published by the Society, 
and has had so Avide-spread a circulation that the large edition has 
been already exhausted. A liberal proportion has been distributed 



to tlie societies of other states, and to various libraries and public 
institutions at home and abroad, and has attracted much attention, 
both from the interesting incident with which it abounds, and the 
able manner in which the work is gotten up. We are gratified to 
state, that the manuscript of a similar volume, by the same able 
and industrious pen, embodying the intei-esting and eventful bio- 
graphical history of the principal settlers and founders of the 
colony at Marietta, illustrated with the portraits of many of the 
subjects, and views of works and places of renown of early times, 
is already in the publisher's hands, and will at no very distant day 
be issued from the press. If sufficient encouragement is oflfered 
to justify the measure, this will doubtless be followed by a regular 
series of similar publications by the Society. 

At the annual election, held in accordance with the provisions 
of the Constitution in December last, the following named gentle- 
men were chosen officers of the Society for the ensuing year : 

President, William D. Gallagher. 
Vice Presidents, Thomas M. Key, 

Edward D. Mansfield. 
Recording Secretary/, Edwin R. Campbell. 
Corresponding Secretary, A. Randall. 

Treasurer, Robert Buchanan, 
Librarian, G. Williams Kendall. 

With a Board of Curators, twenty in number, chosen from the 
State at large. 

At the annual meeting aforesaid, the President of the Society 
was requested to deliver the annual address in the city of Colum- 
bus, before the adjournment of the Legislature, as prescribed by 
the Constitution of the association. 

Your Committee would also state, that the books, archives, 
and cabinet of the Society have been recently removed to a suite 
of rooms in the new building lately erected on the corner of 
Third and Race streets, in Cincinnati, where they are safely 
deposited and conveniently arranged — the rooms being commo- 
dious and well fitted for the Society's meetings. We are still 



7G 

more gratified to state, that, tlirougli the Hberality of a gentleman 
of known pubhc spirit and Hberal views, a member of the Society, 
there is a prospect that a hall and I'ooms, conveniently arranged 
and eligibly located, will be furnished the Society for a term of 
years, free of rent. 

In conclusion, your Committee beg leave to congratulate their 
fellow members, and all interested in the Historical Society, upon 
its healthful and flourishing condition, notwithstanding the obsta- 
cles the institution has encountered. They beg leave also to 
impress upon the Society the propriety of memorializing the 
State Legislature upon the appropriateness of granting the same 
privileges and aid to our association, as is extended to the encour- 
agement of agriculture, and other matters of the like import. 
We respectfully suggest that the President of the Society, on the 
occasion of the delivery of his annual address at the capital, 
during the session of the Legislature, urge the matter upon the 
serious consideration of the members of that body. 

We trust that the members of the Society, both resident and 
throughout the State, will enter upon their duties with renewed 
zeal, in view of the facts we have taken some pains to collate and 
lay before them. As the work in which they are engaged should 
be to each and all of us "a labor of love," we should not be 
weary of well doing in such a cause. 

Edwin R. Campbell, 

G. Williams Kendall, 

Osgood Mussey, Committee. 



/ ( 



A HISTORICAL SKETCH 

OF THE 

HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF OHIO.* 

The Historical and Philosophical Society of Ashtabula County- 
was organized in July, 1838, with the following officers: R. W. 
Griswold, President ; Horace Wilder, H. S. Hitchcock, Levi Gay- 
lord, and Hulsey Phillips, Vice Presidents ; Piatt R. Spencer, 
Recording Secretary ; and Arramel H. Fitch, Corresponding 
Secretary. 

It has diligently sought out everything in relation to the 
history of the county, together with much of the Reserve and 
northern Ohio, making about seven hundred pages of manuscript. 
Several valuable MSS. are in their possession, and a cabinet of 
natural history. 

The Society holds its meetings at Jefferson. 
The Logan Historical Society was organized July 28, 1841. 
Felix Renick, President; Jno. S. Williams, Secretary. Located 
at Chillicothe. 

The American Pioneer, edited by Jno. S. Williams, was made 
the organ of the Society, and its pages enriched by many very 
valuable collections of historical interest. After a severe strua-trle 
for two years, the publication Avas suspended. An attempt is now 
being made to revive the Society, which we hope may prove 
successful. 

The Marietta Historical Association was organized November 
21, 1841, with the following gentlemen as officers: Ephraim 
Cutler, President; Arius Nye, Vice President; Caleb Emerson, 
Corresponding Secretary ; Arius S. Nye, Recording Secretary ; 
Wm. R. Putnam, John Mills, A. T. Nye, Curators. It has a 
library of about one hundred and fifty volumes of rare old books, 
and a few volumes of old newspapers, and a qiiantity of old 
manuscripts, mostly letters, ft will probably do something in the 
course of a year, in pursuance of its objects. 

* Minutes, April 19th — "On motion, James H. Perkins and G. Williams 
Kendall were appointed a committee to draft a sketch of the liistorical societies of 
the state." Report accepted August 6th, and ordered to be printed. 1849. 



78 

The Historical and Geological Society of Norwalk Seminary 
was organized in 1842, by the election of Rev. A. Wilson, Pres- 
ident; H. Dwight, Esq., Secretary. The Society made a small 
collection of geological specimens, which are now in the seminary, 
but did nothing in the way of historical collections. It has long 
since been suspended. 

In August, 1 844, the Cincinnati Historical Society was organ- 
ized, with the following officers : 

James H. Perkins, President. 

John P. Foote, 

W. D. Gallagher, Vice Presidents. 

E. P. Norton, Recording Secretary. 

Corresponding Secretary. 

R. Buchanan, Treasurer, 

A. Randall, Librarian. 
Who continued in office until 1847, when the following officers 
were chosen : 

D. K. EsTE, President. 
J. P. FoOTE, 

J. Hall, . . . .Vice Presidents. 

J. H. Perkins, Recording Secretary. 

J. G. Anthony, Corresponding Secretary. 

A. Randall, Librarian. 
During this year. Dr. Hildreth presented the manuscript of 
his work on the " Pioneer History." 
The officers chosen for 1 848 were : 

W. D. Gallagher, President. 

Jas. H. Perkins, 

Chas. Whittlesey, 

E. D. Mansfield, Vice Presidents. 
A. Randall, Secretary and Librarian. 
H. Hall, Treasurer. 

Upon the removal of the State Society to Cincinnati, all of the 
books and other property of the Cincinnati Society were presented 
to the former, and its members transferred to it also. 

In 1822, a number of the citizens of Ohio, desirous of pre- 
serving, by a united effort, sufficient material in relation to the 



79 

history, settlement, and antiquities of the State, were induced to 
apply to the Legislature for an act of incorporation, under the 
name of the Ohio Historical Society. This was granted ; but the 
proposed society was never organized. 

Several years after, the project was revived ; and an act was 
passed by the Legislature, February 11, 1831, incorporating the 
Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, located at 
Columbus. This Society was organized December 31, 1831, by 
the election of the following officers : 

Benj. Tappan, President. 

Ebenezer Lane, 

Rev. Wm. Preston, Vice Presidents. 

Alfred Kelly, Corresponding Secretary. 

P. B. Wilcox, Recording Secretary. 

John W. Campbell, Treasurer. 
Curators, 
G. Swan, S. P. Hildreth, 

Edward King, B. G. Leonard, 

J. P. KiRTLAND. 

And the adoption of a code of bylaws for the government of the 
Society. 

At the annual meeting held in December, 1832, Benj. Tappan, 
President, delivered the introductory address. S. P. Hildreth 
read a communication on the subject of Floods in the Ohio river, 
from 1772 to 1832, inclusive. 

The officers for the second year were as follows : 
Benj. Tappan, President. 
E. Lane, 

J. C. Wright, Vice Presidents. 
Alfred Kelly, Corresponding Secretary. 
P. B. Wilcox, Recording Secretary. 
John W. Campbell, Treasurer. 
Curators, 
James Hoge, Arius Nye, 

C. B. Goddard, J. R. Swan, 

Jos. Sullivant. 
At the annual meeting in 1833, Hon. Ebenezer. Lane delivered 



80 

the annual address. The following gentlemen were elected officers 
for the ensuing year : 

B. Tappan, President. 

E. Lane, 

J. C. Wright, Vice Presidents. 

Alfred Kelly, Corresponding Secretary. 

P. B. Wilcox, Recording Secretary. 

N. H. SwAYNE, Treasurer. 
Curators, 

M. Z. KrEIDER, C. B. GODDARD, 

J. R. Swan, Jos. Sullivant, 

J. H. James. 
At the annual meeting for 1834, Mr. G. H. Flood pronounced 
a eulogy on the life and labors of Dr. Thos. F. Conner, a deceased 
member of the Society. J. H. James delivered the annual address, 
and Joshua Malin read a paper on the meteoric phenomena of 
November 13, 1833. The officers elected for the year were : 
Benj. Tappan, President. 
E. Lane, 

J. C. Wright, Vice Presidents. 
Alfred Kelly, Corresponding Secretary. 
P. B. Wilcox, Recording Secretary. 
I. A. Lapham, Treasurer. 
Curators, 
M. Z. Kreider, C. B. Goddard, 

J. Ridgway, Jr., Jos. Sullivant, 

RoBT. Thompson. 
The officers for 1 836 were : 

Ebenezer Lane, President. 
J. C. Wright, 

A. Nye, Vice Presidents. 

J. Delafield, Jr., Corresponding Secretary. 
P. B. Wilcox, Recording Secretary. 
J. Ridgway, Jr., Treasurer. 
Curators, 
R. Thompson, J. Ridgway, Jr., 

J. Sullivant, W. M. Awl, 

C. B. Goddard. 



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